Nature's First Green Is Gold
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: Sequel to If I Can Leave Off Burying The White. Five years after Vega survives the shooting in the diner, she's back at the FBI, enjoying her newfound sense of independence, being married, and watching Madeline Jane grow up. Note to everyone whom I promised Wega babyfic: you might want to read this one. ;) Pairings: Wylie/Vega, Jane/Lisbon, Rigsby/Van Pelt and Cho/Summer.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a sequel to If I Can Leave Off Burying The White, which you don't HAVE to read to read this one, but I'd recommend it seeing as I write away and explain a pretty major season seven plot point in it.**

 **This, like its prequel, is a Wylie and Vega fic. However, there is quite a bit of Jane/Lisbon and some Rigsy/Van Pelt. Maybe even some Cho/Summer. There's also a LOT of little Madeline Jane, who of course Lisbon was pregnant with in the series finale. This chapter is just a short little intro, for Wega Wednesday, and updates should come frequently!**

* * *

Vega kept her eyes trained on the laptop screen, pretending as if she didn't notice him sit down next to her. He slung his arm across the back of the couch, smiling at her, waiting. She tried to keep the smirk off her face. She knew this game.

"Worrrrkin' hard?" he asked in just _that_ tone of voice. Yes, yes. She knew this game.

"Very," she said, adjusting her glasses – which if she was honest with herself, she'd put on earlier expecting him to do this. "Lots of...super important stuff." She glanced briefly at him, then set her jaw and looked back at the screen, as if there was no way anything could take her focus away from what she was doing. Might take me all night."

"Yeah?" He scooted closer. "Let me have a look." She allowed herself to smile as he peered over her shoulder, knowing that he didn't have a good look at her face and knowing he knew that by this point she was always smiling.

Then his lips were on her, right where her neck met her shoulder, and she closed her eyes and lifted her chin as his tongue capered over her skin. His hands snaked around her waist, his little and ring fingers tucking into the top of her leggings. " _Wylie_ ," she protested, though she knew he knew she wasn't being serious. She leaned back against him, making a little sound deep in her throat when a hand slid underneath her shirt to dance across her battle scarred abdomen. His lips traveled to the nape of her neck, and she shuddered, feeling herself break out in goosebumps.

"Well," Wylie said after a moment, as expected. "I'd best be leaving you to your work." He slapped his knees, clearing his throat, and slowly began to stand up.

He knew just how to frustrate her – forever a tease even when he couldn't use their height difference to his advantage. She slammed the laptop closed. "Dammit, Wylie." Turning around, Vega grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pushed him down on the couch, climbing on top of him and giving him a mock stern look. "I have _so much work to do_."

"I can go watch TV if you'd like," he said, raising his eyebrows as he looked up at her. He reached up and put his hands on her hips, pushing her back, pretending to be preparing to rise.

Vega let a long breath escape between her lips, releasing his shirt and squeezing his hips with her knees as she pushed against him, resisting his joking attempt at pushing her away. "You're not going _anywhere_."

He reached up and curled his finger around a lock of hair that had escaped her pony tail and hung down, smiling as he did so. "If you say so, ma belle."

She placed her hands on his neck and kissed him, feeling his grin on her lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**New chapter time! I'm going to try to update twice a week.**

 **Not much will happen in this one, just sort of setting things up and showing where the characters are at this point.**

* * *

"So, I've got something for you," Wylie said, waltzing into the kitchen the following morning, his hands behind his back.

"Hmmm?" Vega looked up from the paperwork she was reading, setting her toast on the plate. "Please tell me it isn't the phone with Cho on the other end asking us to come in. For some really strange reason, I didn't get much done last night, and we're watching the kidlet later today."

"Nope." He was grinning. "C'mere."

Curious, Vega rose and walked around the table to stand in front of him. He took his hands from behind his back. "Check this out!"

Vega grinned delightedly at the object Wylie was holding. "Ziggs!"

"Happy anniversary!" he said, grinning.

A pained look came over her face as she took the statue. "What?"

"Happy anniversary," he said, reaching up to touch her face tenderly. "Two years, ma belle."

"Wylie," she said, turning the statue over in her hands. "I..." she looked up at him. "I'm so sorry. I forgot again. God." She turned to the side. "I am awful."

"Oh, come on," Wylie said, putting a hand on her arm and turning her back to face him. "It's not a big deal."

"I know what this thing costs, Jason," she said, hugging Ziggs to her chest. "You always remember the important days. I always end up looking like I don't care."

"Hey." Wylie stepped up to her and linked his hands together against her lower back, lowering his head to touch his forehead to hers. "Stop it."

"Next year," she said. "Next year I'll remember." She raised her eyebrows. "Next year I'm going to get you the best present ever."

"Ever, as in, that anyone has ever gotten ever or that _you've_ ever given me?" Wylie said, smirking. "Because if you mean the latter than technically..."

Vega slapped his chest and rolled her eyes.

"You okay now?" he asked, his smirk turning into a grin.

"Yeah," she said, smiling up at him. "Happy anniversary."

"I love you," Wylie said, pulling her close.

She smiled, closing her eyes. "Good."

* * *

The door swung open to reveal a little brunette girl dressed completely in bright orange. "Hey Madeleine!" Wylie said with a grin.

"Uncle Wylie!" The four year old shouted, throwing her hands up in the air in celebration, as if she was shocked to see him at his own house.

"Come here!" he said enthusiastically, hunkering down and spreading his arms. The girl jumped into them, giggling when he straightened up and spun around. Stopping his roundabout momentum, Wylie smiled at Lisbon. "You two have a fantastic time today!"

"I think we will," Lisbon said. "Though we may end up falling asleep without this little bundle of energy to keep us on our toes. Mimi," she addressed her daughter, "give Mama a hug."

Wylie set Madeleine down and the girl stood on her tiptoes, hugging her mother's hips. "I love you, Mommy."

Lisbon dropped to her knees to give her a proper hug. "Mommy loves you," she said, kissing the girl's forehead. "I'll see you tonight, okay?"

"It's a date!" the girl chirped.

"I have the cutest date," Lisbon said to Wylie.

"Definitely," he agreed. "Come on, Mimi," he said. "Auntie Shell has The Lion King all ready for you!"

"Better get that started," Lisbon said, "with four of us off, there's bound to be something that'll happen that'll make Cho call us in."

"Then we will Lion King, and you and Jane can nap," Wylie said with a grin. "Let's go, Mimi."


	3. Chapter 3

**Happy Wega Wednesday! Getting into the first case of the fic now.**

* * *

"Agents Wylie," Cho said immediately as the couple exited the elevator. "Glad you're here."

"You have something for us, boss?" Vega asked.

"Well, I did let my entire team have yesterday off."

Vega groaned. "Paperwork?"

"No."

He handed her a folder, and Wylie peered over her shoulder as she opened it, both of them still walking briskly to their desks. "Leigh Roy Brown?"

"Who is he?" Wylie asked Cho. "I mean, other than the baddest man in the whole damn town."

"Remember when you had to explain why people call him the coyote?" Vega asked Cho.

"Yes," he said, looking unamused. "He's missing. Vanished from his job at a dock in Houston last night."

"Do we think he got smuggled across the border to be used for ransom?"

"Jane and Lisbon are interviewing his co-workers," Cho said, "but yes, we think he's part of the ploy devised to hold Americans as bargaining chips so local law enforcement will allow the drug trade to slip under the radar. He is apparently some favorite nephew of the police chief."

"What do you need us to do?" Wylie asked.

"For now, run background checks on his co-workers, keep in touch with Jane and Lisbon, and let me know if you find anything."

"What are you going to be doing?"

Cho sighed. "Well, initially this was one of Jane's days off, but I had to call him in."

Wylie cocked his head. "So…"

A door slammed somewhere, and moments later a little girl appeared at a dead run, charging toward them. "Uncle Cho! You said we could ride the fast elevator!"

Vega disguised her laugh with a cough, and Mimi stopped, turning toward her, a big grin coming over her face. "Auntie Shell! Uncle Cho isn't letting me ride the fast elevator."

"What?" she said, looking incredulous. "How could he?"

"Oh for the love of…" Cho shook his head at Vega and hunkered down by the little girl. "We can go, but you can't run or shout, okay? We're working here."

"Mommy and Daddy are working, you're socialing."

"Oh snap," Wylie said under his breath. Vega 'coughed' again.

"Come on," Cho said, holding out his hand and straightening up. Mimi grinned, grabbed it, and followed him down the hall, skipping rapidly to keep up.

"So, background checks," Wylie said. "You want to start at opposite ends of the alphabet?"

"I guess so," Vega said, settling down in her desk chair. "Oh, Lisbon's already texted me names. Perfect."

"I have a text from Jane," Wylie said as he sat down. Then he froze. "Did Cho call us Agents Wylie?"

"He's called us that since we got married." Vega was staring at her computer screen, furiously scribbling something on her notepad. "Well, almost since then. Since I left Humble and came back to work here. I mean, you know no one actually calls me Michelle Bonaventura."

"Yeah," Wylie said, "that's the worst kept secret in the FBI."

"So since we're both Agent Wylie, he calls us Agents Wylie."

"Why not Agent Wylies?"

"You know," she said, a small smirk on her face, "you can ask him that, I'm sure it's a conversation he would love to have while we have a missing person. Hey!" she said as an eraser whizzed by her head. She rolled her chair back and leaned over to retrieve it, not looking at her husband's grinning face. "You are such a child."

He grinned, but his grin shrunk when he saw her make a face and shift her weight. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just that periodic discomfort the doctor told me about."

Wylie bit his lip. It had been five years since Vega had nearly died in a shooting – the team had actually believed she hadn't made it for a full month after it happened – and she'd never gone six months without being in a hospital since. It seemed there was always something – a bullet fragment dislodging, pneumonia, problems with her liver or kidneys – all related to her shooting. A couple months back she'd had to have part of her liver removed, an emotionally traumatizing experience for a woman who had lost her father to liver cancer. For some odd reason, the past month or so had seen her getting nauseated when she exerted herself too much. A more recent minor surgery left her slightly uncomfortable due to scar tissue, especially on days when she didn't move around too much. The previous day with Madeline, Wylie had done most of the running around.

None of this was really affecting Vega's ability to be a good agent – though her time in the field had never gotten back to what it had been at the time of her injury – but Wylie hated to see her like this, and having to wonder if the shooting would ultimately cause her death. Just a few years back, Wylie read about a Vietnam Veteran who had died…forty five years after he'd returned to the United States, but due to complications from injuries he'd had while in the war. The doctors had told them after the last hospital visit that they believed she had finally crossed the threshold and very likely could live a normal lifespan, but every little twinge she experienced terrified him.

"Wylie," she said, and he jumped, clearing his throat and looking over at her. "I'm okay." She smiled. "I just didn't do my exercises yesterday. They said I'm good. Totally good." She cocked her head. "You know I was okay the other night."

Wylie nodded, still looking forlorn.

"Hey," she said, standing up and walking over to him, hopping up on his desk and putting a hand on the side of his face. "We're done with hospitals. I'm better now. Finally." She smirked. "Unless Cho tries to kill us when he finds out we haven't started working."

Wylie gave a little laugh. "Okay. Okay."


	4. Chapter 4

**Happy Wega Wednesday! As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and thanks for your patience in waiting until the night for an update – I usually have Wednesday off, but I did have to work today.**

* * *

When Jane and Lisbon returned, Cho gathered them all in the bullpen. "Based on our findings today, we've determined that Jeb Frasier and Keven Kells are our two most wanted. Frasier is currently just downtown in Austin, working his shift as a day custodian at a nightclub. Kells is an hour or so away, somewhere in the radius of this cell phone tower," he pointed to the graphic on the screen. "Vega, you and Lisbon track down Frasier. Wylie and I will go talk to Kells."

"Ah, Cho," Jane said, partially raising his hand, "I think it might be best if Wylie and _I_ go talk to Kells. Frasier is the domineering one, if the sibling we interviewed earlier is any indication. A cop coming to talk to Kells might make him run. He's not the violent one; Kells is. We should go and feel him out."

Cho considered it for a moment, then gave a brief nod. "Okay." He turned to Vega, "you up to that?"

"I laugh in the face of danger," she deadpanned. Wylie and Lisbon snickered.

"Okay," Cho said, nodding as everyone began to rise and move off. "But _vest up_ , everyone."

* * *

"I thought this wasn't a stake out," Vega said, dropping her sunglasses down onto her nose. "We've been sitting here over an hour."

"It's not," Lisbon said, "but until those delivery vans leave, I don't want us engaging."

"Gives him too much cover if he runs?" Vega said.

Lisbon nodded. "Yep. Plus there are too many cars. If he get violent I don't want a room full of people." She turned to Vega. "You been feeling okay?"

"Mostly," she shrugged. "Just the nausea and the stiffness. Since my last surgery, everything's been okay. I really don't ever believe I'll be one hundred percent, though."

"No one really is," Lisbon said. "You do just fine."

Vega smiled. "Thanks. There they go." She pointed at the two vans pulled out of the parking lot. Let's go."

"We'll have to be very careful," Lisbon said.

"Look," Vega said, "it's been lightly raining for two days now. Most of those cars have their windows down. They're dumped here, their owners aren't around at the moment."

Lisbon raised her eyebrows. "Impressive."

Vega grinned.

She and Lisbon matched strides as they head into the nightclub. "This place looks really weird during the day," Lisbon said casually. Vega's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, like you and Wylie never go anywhere."

"May I help you?" Said a tall, thin woman who came from around a corner.

"Yes," Lisbon said. "I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon, this is Agent Michelle Bonaventura, and we're with the FBI. We're looking to speak with Jeb Frasier."

The woman looked confused. "Jeb didn't come in today...his shift was supposed to start a few hours ago, but he called in."

"Did he say why?" Vega asked as Lisbon's phone rang and the older woman stepped away to take it.

She shrugged. "Family emergency, I think. I didn't speak with him on the phone, Polly did. I can get her for you if you'd like?"

"Please."

Lisbon returned. "Um, Bonaventura..." she turned to the woman. "Can you excuse us a moment?"

"Sure," she said. "I'm Thelma if you need anything else."

"Okay, don't freak out," Lisbon said to Vega. "Cho has lost contact with Jane and Wylie. They were supposed to call him after interviewing Kell, and..."

Vega pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, dialing Wylie quickly and holding it up to her ear.

 _The number you have called is unavailable at this time..._

"In all likelihood, nothing is wrong," Lisbon said, "they might just be out of range, but we're only about forty minutes from where they were..."

"Let's go."

* * *

"Can you drive any faster?" Lisbon asked.

"Believe me, I've crashed quite a few cars in my day," Vega said, gritting her teeth as she cut a yellow light a little too close. "This is as fast as we can go."

Lisbon's phone rang, and she put it to her ear. "Hello?" Hello?"

"You didn't answer it."

Lisbon realized her phone was still buzzing. "Right. Hello? Cho! Uh huh...uh huh...oh my God...yeah, yeah we're close...where are you? Okay. Thanks."

"What?"

"Cho is near the scene. They've found their car. It's empty. The breaks have been cut; the car crashed into a fence near where they were heading to Kell."

"How did they find out we were coming?" The car jerked as it fluctuated in speed in a response to Vega's impatient, nervous tapping of her foot.

"My guess is that brother who pretended he hadn't seen Frasier in years was pulling one over on us," Lisbon said.

"But how did Jane fall for it? Sorry," she said when Lisbon gave her a hurt look. "I know this isn't Jane's fault."

"Red John played Jane many times," Lisbon said. "Sometimes he has an off day. Other times the other person is just really good at deception. He's not a machine."

"I know, I didn't mean..." Vega slammed on her breaks as something raced out in the street in front of them. She wasn't fast enough; the car hadn't come to a complete stop yet when the person rolled up on their windshield, then rolled off and staggered toward a parking lot on the right side of the road, turning warily to look back at them.

"Oh my God," Lisbon said. " _Jane_!"

Vega's mouth hung open incredulously. "Jane?" She pulled the car off to the side, her eyes frantically scanning the surrounding area.

"Jane!" Lisbon shrieked again as she and Vega got out of the car, racing forward and plowing into her husband, causing him to stagger backwards, grunting. "Jane, you're okay?"

"Jane!" Came another voice. Vega saw Cho running toward them from the side of the parking lot that was near a building.

"Tell me you're okay," Lisbon said, her voice a pitch reserved for when she was relieved.

"Ah, yeah," he said, hugging her back and then straightening up, his eyes uncomfortably on the younger agent.

Vega strode toward him, her lip trembling. "Where is he? Where's Jason?" Tears sprung to her eyes. "Dammit, _where's Jason_?"

"They took him." Jane bent over, resting his hands on his knees, coughing. Vega and Lisbon looked alarmed at the blood that came from his mouth. As if he'd read their minds, Jane shook his head. "Bit the inside of my mouth," he panted. "They just hit us a few times. I got away, I..." he looked up. "He was alive when they took him."

Vega pressed her lips together tightly. "He was alive when they took him."

"We'll find him," Jane said. "I have the license plate, make and model of the car, I can recognize their voices..."

"Great, so when we never find him because they've taken him across the border, you'll be able to know what stolen car was used to do it."

"Vega," Cho said quietly. Her eyes flashed in his direction. "Hey," he said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder, "you know we're going to do everything we can."

Vega's lower lip slowly slid under as she gave a tiny nod. Then she looked up at Cho. "Excuse me."

Running over to the corner of the lot, she dropped to her knees and vomited, her tight abdominal muscles protesting just as violently. She stayed on her hands and knees, squeezing her eyes shut in a futile attempt to stop the tears. She didn't know how long she remained there, perfectly still, until Lisbon gently eased her to her feet and helped her to the car.

* * *

"You really should talk to us," Lisbon said gently.

Vega was lying on the couch in the bullpen, a blanket wrapped around her. She'd gotten oddly cold on the ride home; Cho said it might be shock. He and some others were in the interrogation room deciding on "the next course of action," leaving Vega out on the couch. Lisbon had just exited the interrogation room and was sitting in a chair next to the couch, having spend the past several minutes trying to get Vega to break the silence that had began in the car on the way back to the building.

"I don't know how," she said quietly. She'd hated the counseling she'd been asked to do at the FWTC. She didn't want to talk about how afraid she was.

"Just think out loud," Lisbon said, rubbing Vega's hands between her own. "You'll feel better"

"I guess I always..." Vega sniffed. "They say..." she exhaled through her nose in an attempt to make her breathing pattern more consistent. She didn't think it worked. "They say that you have to cherish every second you have together because it might be your last. And I know..." she looked away, the words too personal to keep eye contact with her co-workers, even with these co-workers. "I know that Wylie did. Did cherish every second, because he's lost me once, and he knows how that feels, and he remembers every day, every anniversary, every birthday, and I've always taken him for granted. And now..." she looked back at them, her words coming in a rush, "now he's gone and it's not because of something I've done, or something I haven't done..." _but because life was cruel sometimes._

"We'll find him," Lisbon said. "You remember right before Jane and I got married, he was taken."

"I mean," Vega said, "I've heard."

"Right," Lisbon said, remembering where Vega had been at that time. "But it's happened. I was captured by Red John. We get out of things. We do. Wylie will too. He has a lot to live for."

"Yeah. He has to live so he can watch me die."

Lisbon frowned. "Vega."

"Don't lecture me," she said, looking away. She knew her prognosis was good now. It didn't stop her from worrying about how he'd react to losing her a second time. "I just want him here."

"I know," Lisbon said gently, in that tone she usually saved for Mimi. "I know."


	5. Chapter 5

**I know, it's not Wega Wednesday! But it IS "Internet Best Friend Day" (apparently) and Roxanne's my best Wega buddy. Also I'm still on a huge high from American Pharoah's victory in the Belmont yesterday, so I guess Roxanne + Triple Crown = an extra update!**

* * *

"Do you want one of us to stay with you tonight?" Lisbon asked gently.

She shook her head. "Thank you, but no. I want to be alone." The words sounded odd as they crossed her lips. Of course she didn't want to be alone. But the person she wanted to be with wasn't there. What she really wanted to do right now was help out, but Cho was sending her home under threat to not update her if she stayed here. If Lisbon came along, she would just try to comfort her, and she knew that would only make her more distressed. "I'll call you if I need anything," she promised.

"Mkay," Lisbon said, stepping forward and pulling the younger woman into a hug. Behind her, Mimi was sucking her thumb...something she hadn't done in at least a year. When Lisbon and Vega broke apart, Mimi walked up to Vega and held her arms out.

"Madeline," Lisbon said. "Leave Aunt Michelle alone. She's had a hard day."

"It's okay, Mims," Vega said, reaching down and picking the girl up. "You don't worry," she told the girl. "You just go home with Mama and Daddy, okay?"

"Where is Uncle Wylie?"

"He's...we'll find him, okay?"

"Why did he goed somewhere?"

"That's what we want to find out," Vega said. "That's our job. Your job is to go home, get some food in that little belly and get to sleep."

"Vega, a moment?"

She nodded, setting Mimi down and giving Lisbon a small smile. She headed toward where Cho stood at the opposite end of the room, not feeling the energy to acknowledge the sympathetic look Jane threw her when she walked by. "Yes, sir?"

"I'll come by tomorrow when we know more, okay?"

She gave a small nod. "That's fine. You can call me," she added, feeling an extra twinge of fear as she wondered why Cho felt a house call would be more appropriate.

"We'll play it by ear," he said, giving her a nod. "You hang in there. You're the toughest person I've ever met, this is just another obstacle. It's going to be okay."

She nodded. "Thank you." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, then shifted her weight. "Um..."

"Come here," Cho said, understanding, and Vega moved toward him, letting him put his arms around her. "We'll find him, Michelle," Cho said in a low voice, his tone sounding oddly like the way her father used to comfort her. Vega wondered if they always had similar comforting inflections or if she just really, really needed her dad right now.

* * *

When Vega got home, she pulled leftovers out of the fridge and ate slowly as she skimmed the troubleshooting forums for the upcoming game release. Then she sank down on the couch, pulling a blanket around her and flipping through the channels, not finding anything that struck her fancy – but not really registering what was on before hitting the next channel button anyway. The whole night was very reminiscent of her life before Wylie, and she didn't like it.

Vega turned off the television and sat up. This wasn't Before Wylie. She wasn't the woman she was Before Wylie. That woman would have listened to her boss's instructions, politely accepted the sympathy of her co – workers, then gone home and, despite her worry, waited until the following day to keep working.

Because the old Vega always followed orders and never deviated from procedure.

But that was Before Wylie. That was Before Jane, Before Lisbon, Before Cho. Vega wasn't that person anymore, Hell for all professional and legal purposes she wasn't Michelle Vega anymore either. She knew there were things she could do tonight, and she wasn't going to wait around while Wylie was out there somewhere. _I lived. Against all odds, I lived. Like Hell I'm going to let you die._

* * *

"Vega," Cho said in surprise when he re-entered the bullpen past midnight to find the woman at her computer. "What are you doing?"

"Setting up trackers when they call us."

"Vega, we have Wylie's new implementations all set up," Cho said. "If they call us..."

"When they call us." She bit her lip. "They took him as a bargaining chip. So they can sell the drugs."

"I know," Cho said gently. " _When_ they call, then. We're all ready to go." He put a hand on her elbow. "You should be at home."

"I know, I was just..." Vega gestured at the screen. "Checking..."

"You want to help," Cho said. "I understand that. But you know that you can't partake in this investigation any longer. Hey," he said when her eyes flashed upward. "We will keep you updated of course. But..."

Vega stood. "Agent Cho?"

Cho raised an eyebrow a fraction.

"When I was shot..." Vega took in a deep breath. "You guys stayed on the case. You fought for me even though as far as you knew, I hadn't made it. You guys made sure justice was served. And with all due respect, sir, none of your relationships with me then were near what they are now. And none of our relationships with Wylie were what they are now. You saw my body, you thought I was dead. We haven't seen Wylie's body or been given any indication that he isn't alive. So, with all due respect, I'm helping you find my husband."


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the wait between updates – real life is a crazy sunofagun.**

* * *

Vega looked up from her computer when the elevator pinged – "good morning, Agent Kemper," she said diplomatically as the rookie (Vega refused to acknowledge that because of her time in Humble she still technically had the least seniority) walked toward her. Her eyes briefly went back to the computer screen, then shot back to Theo when the look on the younger woman's face registered with her. "What is it?"

"Where is Cho?"

"What do you got, Kemper?" Cho asked, walking into the room right on cue. Lisbon and Jane looked up from the couch, where they were huddled over the newspaper articles about the Leigh Roy Brown case.

"Um..." Theo shifted her weight. "We're down to one missing person." She handed a file to Cho. Photographs were inside.

Vega jumped up. "Oh God," she said, her voice high pitched. She rushed over to Cho and ripped one of the photos from his hand. The blood ceased draining from her face when she realized that the body she was looking at was not familiar to her. "It's Brown."

Theo nodded solemnly. "They found him this morning. Estimated time of death around midnight last night."

"Just a couple of hours after they got Wylie," Cho said.

"Brown had no chance. He wasn't their best bartering chip anymore," Jane said. "There was no reason to keep him alive, and a very good reason for them to kill him."

"Because we now know that they _will_ kill their victims," Theo said. "And they have an FBI agent. Much better tool for getting what they want."

"And if we don't look the other way when the freighter comes in tomorrow, they will kill him," Vega said, her throat tight, her voice still not sounding like itself.

"We'll find him before that," Lisbon said firmly.

"They must be at the docks," Cho said. "There's a ton of ships coming in and out of Houston. They're likely holding Wylie there. Everyone be ready to go in five. Lisbon, take Jane and Theo. Vega, you're with me."

* * *

"He's been missing almost eighteen hours now," Vega said. "The shipment comes in tonight. Why haven't they contacted us?"

"They know that we know what they want," Cho said, pulling into a parking spot. "They won't risk detection by contacting us." He glanced at her. "You know all this, Michelle."

She gave a shaky sigh. "I know." She nodded. "I know."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

Her nod became firm. "I'm a good agent, Cho."

He gave a small smile. "Yes you are. Let's go."

They exited the car and began to walk down the deck. "Let's check this boat out first, look for anything out of place."

Vega nodded again, her hand on her gun.

They were checking out the third ship in the row when Cho spun around and held up a hand. "You hear that?"

Vega stopped, listening. "Someone is running?"

"This way," Cho said, breaking into a run. Vega glanced around uneasily, then began to follow him. Cho raced around a corner, Vega almost to it when she heard another sound, and she dug her heels in and stopped, her eyes darting around the shipyard. Then she heard it again, a sharp yell, coming from the direction of a pier that was near the end of the lot. She took off in that direction.

* * *

She reached the end of the pier and held her gun at the ready, creeping around a large stack of boxes ready to fire. She peered around the corner and let out a sharp – albeit quiet – cry of surprise and fear.

A man – a tall, bulky man in a tank top and jeans was dragging something out toward the end of the pier, something chained up, something alive.

Some _one_ Vega knew.

"Stop!" she shouted, her voice coming out hoarse as she jumped out from behind the boxes, aiming her gun at the man's head. He probably didn't hear her, but the rapid movement caught his attention. He turned to her and, with incredible speed, pulled out a weapon and fired.

Vega hit the ground, the bullet whizzing a few feet over her head, the hair standing up on the back of her neck as she realized where it probably would have hit her. When she rolled onto her side and finally fired, the man was running, yanking Wylie's body with him to the edge, out over the wager, and pushed it over the side.

" _No_!" Vega shouted, on her feet, her gun pointed at the man. He prepared to return fire, but it was too late. One of Vega's bullets hit him square in the throat and he went down. Vega took off in his direction, feeling nauseated again as she thought of Wylie, now weighted down, in the ocean.

Both their lives would have probably flashed before her eyes if they could have caught up to her. Vega sprinted down the dock, propelled by adrenaline. As she ran, she ripped off her jacket, glad that she never buttoned it up, and threw it, not paying attention to where it went, just needing it to be _away_.

Her shirt was a trickier question. That, of course, was buttoned. Vega had the top two buttons undone when she reached the end of the dock, and jerked one arm out of the sleeve as she dove. It was a mistake – she was tangled up in the shirt and unable to properly swim. Frantic, she tore at the shirt, assuming that the give she felt meant it had either ripped or the buttons popped off. It didn't matter, she was free. She swam downward, toward her struggling husband, coming up behind him and grabbing at the ropes around his hands. He thrashed at her touch – he didn't know it was her. Vega, her lungs already burning from the struggle with her shirt but knowing Wylie must feel as pressured to breathe as her, if not worse, she frantically pulled at the ropes - thankfully she had been wrong about what was being used to bind Wylie. She knew she couldn't have removed chains in time. Thankfully, for someone who could see the knots, they were not that complicated. Wylie was free, and they both kicked to the surface, gasping and peering at each other through their hair and the dripping water.

"Michelle!" Wylie said, grabbing onto the pier. She treaded water, pushing the hair that had come loose from her ponytail up on top of her head, paddling over to him and hanging on to him, resting her head on top of her hands, which were perched on top of one another on his shoulder. His left eye was swollen, he had a gash on his cheek, and he was pale – even for him – but he was here, he was back, and she was glad that he was using both hands to hold onto the pier because she felt that with the option to hold onto him, she might forget how to swim.

He tipped his head to rest on hers while they gasped, waiting for their breathing to return to normal. "What...where..." Wylie attempted.

"Which one?" she asked, pointing upward as her other arm stayed securely on the support.

"Kells," Wylie said. "Frasier took off the other way."

"Cho is on him," she said, sucking in one more deep breath. "Cho's got him." She pushed her forehead into his shoulder. "And I've got you."

* * *

Slowly but surely they made their way along the pier until they reached an emergency ladder. Vega climbed up first, then helped pull her husband up onto the dock. He slumped next to her. "Michelle, I don't feel so good."

She wrapped him in her arms. "We'll get you to a doctor, they'll check you out." She held him a moment longer, then reached for her phone. It wasn't in her pocket. She felt herself tense up - at this point she could feel her heart rate speed up almost before it did, and she frantically checked her other pocket. _I put it in my pants pocket, I'm sure of it!_ Crawling away from Wylie, she frantically grabbed her jacket from where it lay and searched through it.

Nothing.

Then she felt a hand on her back, and she heard his voice. "Hey, hey, it's okay."

Her eyes welled up. _He almost died_ , and there he was, kneeling behind her, recognizing that this was the very situation that brought about her panic attacks and trying to relax her. She turned to him. "I'm okay," she said, rising on her knees and putting her arms around him. Her teeth were chattering, and she could hear that his were too. Was it shock? The cold from the water? Both? It didn't matter - she could see Lisbon and Theo, a few hundred yards away, running toward them. Help was coming. "We're both okay," she said, holding him tighter. "We're both okay."


	7. Chapter 7

**Figured I'd give a bit of a nicer update this week since last week I gave you guys So Dawn Goes Down Today. So here's this one – just Wylie and Vega.**

* * *

Wylie opened his eyes – well, one of them, anyway. The other one had something blocking it. He raised his hand and his working eye blinked in surprise when his thumb hit bandage.

"Hey," came a gentle voice.

Wylie let his head fall to the side, but with the one eye out of commission, he couldn't see her. "Hey."

He felt her take his hand with both of hers. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm really sore," he said. "Worse than when you made me go running with you."

She laughed. "They said you can take the bandage off your eye tonight. You have a broken wrist, but it was a greenstick fracture so it won't be long before that's healed."

Wylie hadn't realized that his right arm felt stiff. Tipping his head to that side – his right eye was fine – he could see it in a brace. "You guys catch the guy?"

"Cho has him in custody. Kidnapping and attempted murder of a federal agent gets you serious time. I don't have to go back in today, though. He let me stay here. You've been asleep for a couple hours."

"They knocked me out to check my wrist?"

"No. You fell asleep. You don't remember that? Getting here?"

"Nothing after me throwing up in your car."

"That was Cho's car."

"Oh..." Wylie bit his lip. "I'm in even more trouble now."

Vega gave another little laugh. "No. No, you're okay." He felt her squeeze his hand. "Don't scare me like that again, okay?"

"You know," Wylie said lightheartedly, "figured it was my turn to see what this hospital stint is about. Turns out it's just as fun as being the one to sit in the waiting room and worry."

He heard her stand up, and she finally came into view as she looked down at him. "I was so worried about you," she said quietly. "I know I take you for granted sometimes."

"Stop it," Wylie said.

"No, really," she said, nodding slowly. "I wake up every day not even thinking of the possibility that you might not be there when I go to bed at night. I forget our anniversary, I forget your birthday, hell I'd forget my birthday if it wasn't attached, and..." she frowned. "That's not a phrase, is it?"

* * *

By the time Wylie was discharged from the hospital and they got home, he was exhausted again. Vega brought a plate of fruit into their bedroom. "Come on, this stuff's good for you."

"Sleep is good for me," he mumbled.

"Don't make me force feed you."

He opened his uncovered eye. "What, like the whole 'the plane needs somewhere to land' bit?"

"No. You're not a child, you're a stubborn husband." She grabbed his hand and put a grape into it. "Come on, you're being more stubborn than Mimi."

Wylie popped the grape into his mouth. "Satisfied?" he asked as he chewed it. "Or are you going to tell me I can't talk with my mouth full?"

"It's not that you can't," she said with a small grin. "It's that you shouldn't."

Wylie grinned, sitting up. "You're turning into such a mom."

She smiled, amused. "Yeah?"

"Little bit."

Vega cuddled up to him, resting the plate of fruit on her stomach. "Do you think I'd make a good mom?"

"You'd make a pretty sweet mom."

"Yeah? I think you'd make a really good dad."

Wylie chuckled, then fell silent. "What are you saying?"

"I'm not pregnant," she said quickly, "but you know, the doctors said I could be, in, in the future I mean. We've never talked about it but..." she shrugged. "I don't know, it might be kind of cool to have a little you and me." She waited for Wylie's answer, and was startled at his silence. "Jay?"

"I'm listening," he said quickly, "I just..."

She waited a moment before lifting her head. "You just?"

He sighed. "You've been through so much. Pregnancy isn't always this happy, glowing experience, you know. My mom had a hell of a time when she was pregnant with my brother. She was tired all the time, her back pain was almost unbearable, and she just...there's little I want more than a little you and me," he said, pulling his bandage off his eye and blinking as he tried to focus her.

"But you never brought it up because you didn't want to pressure me to go through it?"

"I mean..."

She grinned. "Look, I'm not saying let's try tonight, but...but let's talk about it sometime, okay? Maybe go back to the doctor, have them reaffirm I can handle it...let's just consider it. I see how happy Jane and Lisbon are, together, with Mimi, and..." she shrugged. "They make it seem like it's the most wonderful outcome in the world. I want that with you."

Wylie smiled. "Me too. We can talk about it. After I sleep, okay?"

She leaned over in the opposite direction from him and put the plate of fruit on the nightstand, then turned back, shifting carefully onto her side and putting her head on his chest.

 **Happy Wega Wednesday!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Obviously it's been a while since I've updated, so here's a fluffy sort of chapter, but one that briefly foreshadows some stuff to come later on.**

* * *

"Look at this hottie!" Wylie said with a grin as she came out of the bedroom.

Vega grinned, tipping her head flirtatiously as the slowly spun in a circle, showing off her back. "Thought I'd flaunt the part of me without any scars."

"You outgrowing your war wounds?"

"Nah," she said, "but at a fancier party such as this, I figured I should play elegant."

"It's outdoors. Remember when we went to that party after Abbott got off the hook? You were in a sweatshirt. And leggings."

"Yeah," she said, "but they told us to dress nice, so I'm dressing nice. It is a retirement party after all. Even if we didn't really know the guy." She picked up her purse from the table by the door. "Ready to go?"

"Totally."

She grinned. "Are we gonna dance?"

"Michelle."

"Nuh-uh," she said. "It's not up for negotiation."

"But in front of all those people..."

"Hey," she said, grabbing his hand. "I didn't get dressed up like this to sit at a table all night."

* * *

"Thank God Grace is visiting," Lisbon said as she rested her head on Jane's shoulder. "Somehow I feel that this party would not be up Madeline's alley."

"You don't say," Cho said with a half smirk. "You'll be extra glad she isn't here when a family member of Brown's comes in angry that we're having a party when we couldn't save him."

"That's not why we're here," Wylie said, "this was planned three months ago to celebrate the life of..."

"Yeah, but this was a high profile case," Cho said. "Especially given that, well...we got personally involved. We got our own back, but not the civilian. That's going to look bad."

"Let's not worry about that tonight," Jane said. "We have the coming weeks to deal with the ramifications."

"Ramifications of saving Jason's life?" Vega said, her irritation evident in her voice.

"You know how things are," Cho told her. "We'll have to be careful how we let things come across for a bit. There's politics in everything, and hopefully most will understand that we saved Wylie not because he's one of ours, but because we'd made headway on the case by the time he went missing. We got him back because he was the second victim."

There was a long silence at the table, then Cho rapped it and stood up. "I'm going to talk to Latham. Be back in a bit."

"Okay," Lisbon said, smiling. She looked over at Vega. "Want to go get some more of those potatoes?"

"Does a Texan own a gun?"

The two women grinned and rose, heading toward the buffet. Wylie watched them go, noting the slight hitch in Vega's step. She'd banged her hip the day after he was rescued trying to help him down some stairs. The hitch only lasted a few strides before she eased into a more graceful step. Wylie smiled. Maybe she was right. Maybe all her health problems were finally over.

"She's something, ain't she?" Jane asked.

Wylie tore his eyes away from his wife to look at the older man. "Lisbon? Yeah," Wylie said, nodding. "She's great. She's always been such a great friend to me. And kind of a mother figure, I know that sounds weird, but..."

"I was talking about your lady," Jane said, raising an eyebrow. "The one you haven't taken your eyes off of for the past five years."

"Oh," Wylie said, turning pink. "Yeah, she's...she's something."

"You know, she's only a few years older than Mimi's sister would be," Jane said. "I would have wanted Charlotte to find someone like you, Jason. It is so lovely to see you and Michelle together."

Vega looked across the room at them, raising her eyebrows upon the realization that they were looking her way. Her eyes met Wylie's and she tipped her head slightly, smiling at him before turning back to talk to the server.

"See? Look at that." Jane was smiling. "That's beautiful." He seemed pleased to have made Wylie blush.

* * *

"Do you think it's kinda gross watching all these couples dance?"

Wylie gave a laugh of surprise at her break in the silence they'd been in for nearly twenty minutes. They were sitting at a picnic table; she was leaning against him with her head tucked under his chin. "What's gross about it?"

"Like, look at them. They're all smiley and dancing right up on each other and bleh."

Wylie laughed again. "You're so cynical about relationships that aren't ours."

"Nah," she said. "I just like making fun of it because we're better." There was a short silence, then she raised her head to look at him, eyebrows high. "Right?" she asked, feigning insult.

"Totally." Wylie's ears caught the opening notes of the next song. "It's Shut Up and Dance," he said excitedly. "Let's go!"

"I thought you said you were tired..."

"Yes," Wylie said. "But this is our song!"

"How is it our song?"

"You know, 'I said you're holdin' back, she said shut up and dance with me.' You weren't wanting to date anyone, but then you asked me to dance, and..."

Vega laughed. "Alright," she said, grinning. She stood and held out her arm. "Let's go!"

* * *

 **Shut Up and Dance has been Roxanne and my Wega song basically since it came out (for the reasons Wylie explained) so I had to include it in this fic.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry it has been a while since I updated. I haven't been doing too well in keeping things updated, it always seems like there's something else going on. But I've been wanting to get this one updated for daaaaays and I finally got the energy/time tonight.**

* * *

"We haven't had a prominent case in twenty three days," Lisbon said, raising an eyebrow at Cho.

"That wasn't my question."

"No, sir, we are not working hard," Theo said. "This paperwork is tedius and all the information is running together. Jane has been torturing Wylie with a card trick for the past fifty minutes, and I'm pretty sure Vega is knitting a serape."

"Vega doesn't know how to knit," Cho said.

Lisbon leaned forward in her chair. "We haven't had a prominent case in twenty three days."

Cho nodded. "Point taken. You've finished up paperwork on the Terrill case?"

"He was a drifter who stole the governor's personal vehicle and robbed a gas station," Jane said, walking into the bullpen with Wylie. "You've solved more prestigious cases _without me_."

Lisbon rolled her eyes. Theo, even after five years of working with the team, still looked as if she wasn't sure how to respond. Instead, her eyes fell on Wylie and she frowned and cocked her head. "What are you wearing?"

He looked down, and then grinned as he looked back at Theo. "It's a poncho. Michelle made it."

"It's a serape," Vega said as she exited the breakroom. "A poncho is closed at the sides, this is open, this is a serape." She stopped in her tracks as she noted the expression on Cho's face. "We haven't had a prominent case in twenty three days."

"Don't worry, Vega," Lisbon said. "We have that picnic tomorrow to help us relieve the stress of the week."

Vega made a show of wiping her brow.

Cho shook his head. "I'm cancelling this picnic."

* * *

"Can't do anymore," Jane said, dropping to his knees in front of his wife and the younger couple. "Daddy's back is all worn out."

"Mommy!" Mimi said, dropping to the ground and running around to stand behind Lisbon.

"Mimi!" Lisbon said, mimicking her daughter's tone.

"Come on, come on!" Mimi said, jumping up and down with her hands on her mother's shoulders.

"Come on and what?" Lisbon asked, as if she didn't know.

"Piggy back!"

"Daddy just gave you a piggy back ride."

"That was _Daddy_ ," Mimi explained. "You are _Mommy_."

"Hard to argue with that logic," Jane said, laying back on the grass.

"Darling," Lisbon said, "Mommy's had a hard week at work."

"No you haven't."

If looks could kill, Cho would have dropped on the spot. "Don't listen to him," Lisbon said.

"You two thinking about kids?" Jane asked. "Because we may be willing to syndicate Mimi."

Wylie laughed awkwardly. Vega jumped up. "I'm going to go get drinks," she said hurriedly.

"Touch a nerve?" Jane asked as she walked off. He cocked his head to see Wylie better.

"Nah," Wylie said. "You want to touch a nerve with Michelle, ask her why I always drive."

* * *

Vega returned, arms full. "They ran out of those drink carriers," she said as Wylie jumped up to take a couple of them out of her hands. "This one's Jane's..." Wylie said, handing it down to him. "And this one's...Lisbon's, okay..." he sat it on a flat spot on the ground, then took his drink from his wife, settling back down on the grass.

"Where's Lisb..." Vega trailed off when she spotted the older woman awkwardly 'galloping' around with Mimi on her back, shrieking with glee. She smiled.

"So Vega," Jane said, "why does Wylie always drive?"

"You wanna know why Wylie always drives?" Vega said. "You really want to know why Wylie always drives?" She looked over at her husband, who was trying to suppress a smirk. "Every time I get behind the wheel, he points at every other car on the road and reminds me not to hit them."

"You used your vehicle as a weapon twice in your first what, four months at the FBI?" Wylie asked. "I've never done that."

"You're not as badass as me," Vega said, raising an eyebrow.

Wylie shrugged. "That is true."

"Party is over," Cho said, walking briskly up to them.

"Cho," Lisbon said, rolling her eyes as she spun Mimi in a circle, "you can't _actually_ cancel the picnic."

"I'm not cancelling it," Cho said, "but we're leaving. We have a case."


	10. Chapter 10

**Happy...Wega Sunday? LOL trying to make up for the Wega Wednesdays I missed!**

* * *

The case was, as seemed to be the norm of late, related to the border struggle between the United States and Mexico. "Why is it always drugs and weapons?" Lisbon mumbled under her breath when Cho gave the briefing.

Day one of the investigation went normally enough. Vega and Cho canvassed, Lisbon and Jane interviewed the family of someone killed in what was thought to be gang violence but was now under suspicion of being involved with the weapon smuggling. It was a long day, and tensions were high between the FBI and local police. "We have different ways of doing things," Wylie told Theo, who smiled politely in response to his habit of explaining things she already knew. "It won't be the last time it causes an issue."

* * *

When they had stressful days at work, Wylie and Vega usually came home and flopped down on the couch, falling asleep in their work clothes, or got, as Vega put it "aggressively intimate" against some vertical surface. Tonight, it was the latter, the honor of Vertical Surface going to the master bathroom door. Afterward, they jumped in the shower, not speaking, just letting the warm water hit them.

By the time they went to bed, they were ready to talk about work again. "We'll have to go in early tomorrow, probably," Vega said. "We have another two dozen potential suspects to sift through, not to mention..."

"You're not working tomorrow."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

Wylie raised his eyebrows, staring at her. She realized what he meant and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Shit."

* * *

"Vega, I need you here today," Cho said, folding his arms.

She sighed. "I know, sir, but...it's the fourteenth. I go to the FWTC on the fourteenth. They're expecting me. Wylie can fill me in later! I already know the basics of the case from our half day yesterday..." Her phone buzzed – a special text notification that she'd set to the phone number from the hospital. "That's probably Angela making sure I'm coming." She didn't usually receive confirmation texts, but whatever this was, it would help her case.

"Go," Cho said. "I know that's important to you."

Vega grinned. "Thank you, boss." She headed back out into the bullpen. "I'm off," she said to Wylie. "See you at home?"

He grinned at her from his desk. "Okay. Have a good time!"

"Don't sound so excited about me leaving," she said over her shoulder, feigning hurt.

When Vega got to her car, she checked her phone. _You're still coming today, right? If so, please come to my office before you leave._ Vega nodded to herself as she responded, wondering what this could be about.

For the past year and a half, Vega had, once a month, returned to the place that had saved her life. It was always a little odd, walking those halls where so much had happened, where she was rushed to the operating room, where people were healed and where blood was spilled all over the stairs by the center reception desk. But it was something she had to do.

"You're lucky," Nurse Jaime had told her, a week after Wylie discovered the secret. "You have someone to encourage you, to care about you. Most people here, no one from their old life knows that they are here, that they are even alive. That's a downside to a place like this. You have life saving technology that isn't available to the general public yet, but what you can't have is the love from home." His words – repeated to her in varying forms by the other people that monitored her recovery, had resonated. So she took time out of her schedule once a month to pay visits to some of the patients here, encouraging them in their recovery, being their loved ones as best as she could.

* * *

"I'm not improving," was the main concern that Lai, the first woman Vega visited, was feeling.

"Sometimes you plateau for a bit," Vega said, squeezing her hand. "I like to think of it as my body preparing to improve again, taking a breather to keep making the climb."

She smiled. "I missed you, Michelle."

"I missed you too," Vega said with a smile. "I'm glad to see you're better than the last time I was here. And you'll keep getting better. Just stay positive, okay?"

* * *

"Michelle!"

Vega turned away from the door she was closing and smiled. "Angela! Hi!"

The older woman came over, extending her arms for a hug. "Oh darling, it's been too long. I know just a month, but still, too long!"

"I wish I could come more often," Vega said, falling in line with Angela as they headed to her office. "I was concerned when I got the text from you, I thought you were going to tell me to reschedule, and you know, I had just almost had a _row_ with Cho over it."

They entered Angela's office, and she motioned for Vega to sit down. "No," she said, "we love when you are here. You're our biggest success story."

"Pssssh," Vega said, "I'm not nearly as prominent as half the people you've had here. You got to use my real name in discussion, remember?"

"Medically, though," Angela said, "you're inspiring. A wonder, I think it was your boss said?"

Vega blushed. "Stop it."

"Though I do admit...I actually have another reason for having you here today," Angela said, folding her hands.

Vega cocked her head. "Oh?"

Angela hesitated for a moment, then, "I'm offering you a job."

"...what? A job?"

"Yes. More specifically, my job." Angela tapped her fingers on the desk. "I am relocating, going to work more directly with military personnel. We choose our staffing for these facilities very carefully, and we need someone with experience in protocol, non-disclosure, professionalism, and discipline. You are a living legend in the FWTC, and you of course come from a strong background. I know you love your job at the FBI, but..." her tone softened. "You'd be valued here. The patients, they love you. I have spent four years working here, but it's time for me to move on. I am leaving regardless of what you decide, so we wanted to offer you the job first." She opened her drawer, pulling out some papers. "These are the terms. Salary, benefits. I know," she said when Vega opened her mouth to speak, "you need time to think it over. You have it. I wouldn't expect you to have an answer right away. Go home, talk it over with Wylie, and let me know."


	11. Chapter 11

**Yes, I'm updating twice in one night. I had this whole thing – this and chapter ten – written as one chapter, but didn't want to post the whole thing as one, three thousand words is too much for one chapter for me unless it's a oneshot. So I split them in two and edited separately. A lot happens in this chapter, so read on for the plot developments and don't forget to review! : )**

* * *

"Hey there," Wylie, looking up as Vega walked in the door. He smiled at her. "How were the patients?"

"Most of them are doing well." She set her bag down. "They have a new one – a Patient Memphis. I guess he or she has some pretty bad head injuries. They're not sure if they'll be able to do anything."

"If anyone can, it's them," he said, the smile slowly fading from his face when he noted her expression seemed preoccupied. He closed his laptop and stood up. "Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah," she said. Taking off her jacket.

He walked around the table and put his fingertips gently on her stomach. "You're not in any pain?"

"No."

"You sure?"

She gave him a smile. "It's been a long day is all." She patted his chest as she strode past him into the kitchen. "What's the scoop at work?"

"No leads," Wylie said, dropping right back into his professional tone of voice. "We're kinda at a standstill. It was probably a good day, all things considered, for you to be gone." He smiled again. "It'll be good to have you back tomorrow, though."

Vega was frowning into the fridge. "We don't eat very well, do we?"

"What?"

"Look at this. No lean meat, no beans, I suppose we're doing okay in the fruit department..." she smirked. "You did so good bringing me strawberries when I was in the hospital, and now? We make enough money for good food."

"Maybe I spent all that money bringing you the good food when you were at the hospital," Wylie quipped. "Seriously, are you okay?"

"I just have a lot on my mind, I guess," she said. "You know, seeing all those people in pain and not being able to do much for them..."

"You do a lot," Wylie assured her. "You know what it means to have someone who cares enough to visit you...unless of course you've been lying to me."

She rolled her eyes, smiling. "You know that you visiting meant the world to me. But that's different. You and I? We knew each other before, we were falling for each other, we..." she shrugged. "We had history. These people? They won't see their families again. Lai, she has a mother back in Cambodia that is going to live the rest of her life believing her daughter is dead. Me visiting them can't mean nearly as much as it meant to me whenever you showed up."

"But they have someone, Michelle. You have no obligation to come see them, but you do. Because you care about them getting better and you want to give back to the place that saved you. You know they are glad you go."

She smiled, downing some water. "I suppose." She raised her eyebrows. "I'm going to hit the hay. You coming?"

"In a little bit. I have some stuff to organize for tomorrow."

Vega entered the bedroom and peeled the rest of her work clothes off. Sliding into bed, she drew the covers up to her chest and folded her hands over her stomach, staring at the ceiling. _Wylie, we have so much to talk about._

* * *

"We may have a lead."

Four heads turned eagerly from the computer screens to Cho. One head lifted lazily up from the couch.

"What's the scoop?" Vega asked.

"Why do you keep saying it like that?" Wylie said, cocking his head.

"Boss?" Theo prompted when Cho raised an eyebrow in Wylie's direction.

"There's a woman named Alice Baker that works in a hardware store downtown. She believes that her brother received a shipment of weapons last night that he intends to get across the border. Lisbon, you take Vega and Kemper, go interview her and check out the brother. Jane, I need you going over a 911 log from last night. We suspect a call was made to draw police out of the area where the shipment changed hands, and we need you to listen for voice tremors to determine who may have been faking an incident. Wylie-"

"Sit here and wait for further instructions?" Wylie said, with a smile that showed his teeth.

"No, I need you listening in on phone calls from the prison. Baker says her brother may be working with someone currently doing time." Cho surveyed the room. "Understood? Let's go."

* * *

"That must be her," Theo said, motioning to a nervous looking woman with bright red hair.

"Looks like it," Lisbon said when the woman caught them looking at her and began to walk toward them, reaching out a hand.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Angela Baker."

"Agent Teresa Lisbon. This is Agent Kemper and Agent Vega."

She nodded. "Thank you for coming to talk to me," she said, glancing over in response to a sound in the next aisle over. "I cannot believe my brother might be-"

There was a flash and a loud noise, and Baker fell to the ground, a bullet hole above her eye. The agents scattered, diving for cover, as more shots rang out.

"Vega!" Lisbon shouted frantically from her space behind a register. "Vega, you got a visual?"

Vega was flat on her back behind shopping carts. "That's a negative!"

"Dammit!" Lisbon jumped to her feet and fired off a few rounds before ducking back under cover.

"There's two of them!" came Theo's voice. "Nine o' clock!"

Vega rolled onto her side, pulling her gun from its place at her hip. She thought she knew where the other shooter was – but the store, while not busy, was open for business, meaning it could be a customer. The last thing they needed was an unnecessary casualty.

"I have this guy," Lisbon called, vaulting over the counter when the first shooter began to run. Vega and Theo jumped up, peering in the senior agent's direction.

"Is he out of bullets?" Theo whispered.

"I don't – oh god," Vega said, jumping back when the man turned toward Lisbon. "LISBON! KNIFE!"

"Come on," Theo said, grabbing Vega's arm as Lisbon fired, hitting the shooter in the throat. "We gotta get the other guy!"

Vega ran faster than Theo, and she was nearly at the location of where she thought the other shooter was when he decided to make a break for it. Sprinting down the main aisle, he turned once to fire off a shot. It missed by a mile.

Vega caught up to him as he was reaching for the glass doors leading to the outdoor area. She had an advantage in terms of balance, but he was easily two hundred pounds heavier than her and she wasn't able to tackle him. Instead, he spun around, flinging her into a rack of garden tools. She hit the ground hard and saw stars.

Theo got close enough to shoot without risking hitting Vega, but she wasn't accurate, the bullet lodging in the man's shoulder. He snarled in anger, reaching for his belt.

Vega jumped to her feet as the man slashed, making contact with Theo's abdomen. Blood splattered, hitting Vega on her front, and she lunged in the air just as the man thrust the knife forward again. Theo fell backward. Thankfully this time, the man was unbalanced enough that Vega's weight knocked him over and the knife skidded across the floor.

Vega felt two hands close on her throat and she couldn't breathe. Panic set in, this couldn't be the way Wylie found out about what she hadn't told him, her hands found her gun again and she held it in front of her. He released her throat to grab for the weapon, but he wasn't fast enough. Her bullet lodged in his forehead, and he was gone.

"Ambulance!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs as she dropped down by Kemper. "Ambulance! God, Theo, talk to me."

"First one wasn't bad," Theo was saying. "Second...he really got me there..."

"Let me see," she said pushing Theo's shirt aside. "So how's your daughter?"

"What?"

"You need to keep talking to me," Vega said, examining the wound. The first one – the slash – it wasn't deep. Sterilization and a bandage would likely fix it. The second one, it was more serious, but seemed too low for any terribly vital organs. The most important thing would be keeping Theo calm so her heart wouldn't race. "How is she doing in school?"

"She's okay. I don't think she'll ever be an A student, but she's getting..she's getting better."

"Good, that's good," Vega said. "Uh uh, don't look at it." She pointed up above Theo's head. "Look up there. You're going to be okay." She looked down the aisle, the way they'd come. Lisbon was running toward them, followed by emergency personnel. "We've got people right here. You're going to be fine. Absolutely fine."

* * *

"Agent Kemper will be okay," Cho announced to the team later that afternoon. "She had no organ failure and thanks to Vega, the blood loss was minimal. She'll be out of work for a couple weeks, but the doctors expect a full recovery."

"Oh, thank God," Lisbon said, putting a hand on her heart. Jane had no verbal response, but the tightness in his jaw lessoned slightly.

"Go home, guys," Cho said. "Go home and we'll pick back up in the morning. Try to get some sleep and clear your heads."

* * *

Wylie was silent the entire drive home. Vega didn't blame him, but the silence only made her feel more anxious about the fact that she was keeping things from him. She had to tell him, but she didn't want to break the silence that he probably needed to process everything that had happened that day.

She waited until after they slowly and silently ate their dinner of the vegetables she'd gone out and bought that morning before going into work. Then she dropped her fork, cleared her throat, and said, "Wylie, I need to tell you something."

He looked concerned. "A bad thing?"

"No, just..." she picked up her fork again and examined it, knowing that Wylie knew she was using it as an excuse to put off what she needed to say. "Just...okay, look." She dropped the fork again. "When I was at the FWTC, Angela told me she was transferring."

"Whoa."

"That's just the start of it," she said. "She wants me to take over her job."

"Whoa." Wylie frowned at his repeat choice of words, and cleared his throat. "What did you say?"

"Well, obviously that I needed time to think about it," she said. "And talk to you."

"So you didn't say no."

"No," she said after a moment. "I didn't say no. It...it might be a good move. I can be close to the patients all the time, I know I could help them more if I was there every day, I know how much good they do, so I'd definitely take pride in the work, the pay is actually really good, and..." she shrugged. "After today, maybe a slightly safer job would be a good thing. It's still helping people, it's still really good work, it'd just be in a different capacity."

Wylie was nodding. "I definitely understand that. Especially, like you say, after what happened today." He gave her a small smile and reached across the table to put a hand over hers. "I'm glad you told me. I knew something was off with you, this is so much less worrisome than all the scenarios I had going on in my head."

"Oh, Wylie," Vega said. "That's not even all."

Wylie looked at her expectantly. Vega had been rehearsing in her head all day the best way to say it, but when she opened her mouth, her brain opted for simplicity. "I'm pregnant."


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm not sure if I can get a chapter up on this week's Wega Wednesday, because I'll be visiting a friend before she moves. So I thought, why don't I spoil my readers with three chapters in two days earlier on in the week? (Also I've had part of this chapter edited for WEEKS now so it's easier to get through and publish, haha). Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I really appreciate it! I'm so glad other people are enjoying this extension of the show as much as I am enjoying writing it.**

 **Also - Kemper gets stabbed last chapter and y'all just talking about the Wega baby in your reviews come on now. ;)**

* * *

Wylie's first response was to sit up and blink. "You just really unload the information all at once, don't you?"

She gave a little laugh. "Sorry."

"No," he said, grinning and shaking his head. "Don't be sorry. Don't be sorry." He stood, moving around the table, and she jumped up and threw her arms around his neck as he hugged her. "I've wanted to tell you for like..." she thought back. "Well, about two days. But they have been a _long_ two days."

"Especially with everything else that's been going on," Wylie said. He reached up as if he was going to push hair back behind her ear, but there was nothing to push. He didn't care, he just knew she liked that gesture. They smiled at each other for another moment or two, then Wylie's face changed to one of horror. "Oh my God, the baby knows what we did to the bathroom door the other night!"

Vega burst out laughing, realizing after a bit that she couldn't stop. She kept laughing, staggering backward, reaching for the table for balance, one hand going to her abdomen, where her scar tissue protested the muscle contractions.

Wylie grabbed her arm, helping her stand up, starting to laugh along with her. She leaned against him, taking in deep breaths, calming herself down, still grinning. "A lot is going to change now," she said quietly.

"Yeah," Wylie said, cuddling her close, "but it's going to be sweet."

"Yeah," she said, closing her eyes. "Let's not tell work yet, though, okay?"

"I wouldn't want to tell them. No," he said when she lifted her head to regard him in confusion, "I mean, I want to brag, I want everyone to know that we're going to be parents, I just, I mean...I want it to be our secret for a while."

She smiled. "I like that idea. Though you know you're going to have a Hell of a time keeping this from everyone."

"Lisbon is everyone's standard of a bad liar," Wylie said. "Even with you off tomorrow, I'll be cool. Wait," he said, "are you still off tomorrow now that Kemper is out of commission?"

"I have to be. I'm babysitting Mimi."

"Right," Wylie said. "Well, I'll be cool."

"If you say so," she said, putting her head back on his chest.

"Okay," Wylie said after a moment. "Can we do the thing?"

"I'm already pregnant, Wylie."

He rolled his eyes. "No, the _thing_ , like that big stupid cliché thing people do when they find out that they're expecting. You know what I mean. We used to make fun of it but now that it's us, I kinda really want to do it.

"Oh, okay okay, one sec." Vega grinned, stepping back, then put on a serious face as she stared at Wylie, waiting.

He spread his arms out to the side. "WE'RE HAVING A BABY!"

"WE'RE HAVING A BABY!" she shouted back, throwing her arms up in the air. He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off the ground. She bent her knees as he spun her around, and then stood securely back on the floor again, grinning up at him. "Okay," she admitted. "That was pretty fun."

* * *

"Upsy daisy spider, went up the water spout," Mimi sang, moving her fingers along with the song.

"It's _itsy bitsy spider_ ," Vega said, mimicking the hand motions.

Mimi frowned. "Itsy bitsy spider?"

"Climbed up the water spout," Vega continued.

Mimi's face broke out in a huge grin. "Down came the rain and washed the spider out! Up came the sun and dried up all the rain, upsy daisy spider went up the spout again!"

Vega laughed, amused. "Very good, little girl."

Mimi climbed into Vega's lap, looking up at her. "Are you afraid of spiders?"

Vega slid her arms around the girl. "Not all spiders. But the reeeeally big ones, they can crawl all over you!" she began to tickle Mimi, who shrieked and giggled, trying to get away. "No no no!" Vega said, dropping her tone of voice to a more ominous one, "you're not going anywhere, I've got you!"

Eventually, Vega stopped tickling and Mimi stopped struggling, and the two cuddled up together. "Auntie Shell?"

"Hmmm?" Vega rested her chin on the top of the little girl's head.

"Did you ever almost die?"

Vega blinked. "Who told you that?"

"Daddy. Did you almost die?"

"Yeah I did," she told the girl, figuring if Jane was sharing... "Just about five years ago, when your mommy was pregnant with you."

"Were you sick?"

Vega shook her head. "No. A bad man hurt my stomach. She eased Mimi off of her and drew up her sweatshirt, revealing her scars. "See right here?" Vega said, tracing the crudest one, "this is where I was hurt. Then all these scars..." her finger ran over her surgical marks, "are where the doctors fixed me up."

Mimi put her hand over the bullet wound. "Does it hurt?"

"It used to," Vega said. "Not anymore. Now it just looks ugly."

"Mommy has a scar," Mimi said, patting Vega's shoulder. "Daddy says it means Mommy is brave."

"Your mommy is very brave," Vega affirmed.

Mimi looked down, putting her hand on one of Vega's surgical scars. "Can we watch Frozen?"

Vega laughed at the sudden change in topic. "Sure."

She put the DVD in, then returned to the floor. Mimi leaned against her, her hand resting on Vega's leg, her feet out in front of her with ankles crossed just as Vega's were.


	13. Chapter 13

**Trigger warning: anyone who has had pregnancy complication or scares may find this chapter too sensitive or close to home.**

 **I'm not posting this on Wega Wednesday because I like posting happy things on Wednesdays, and this chapter was hard for me to write and almost harder to edit.**

* * *

"Are you out in the field today?" Vega asked Lisbon as the three of them stepped off the elevator.

"Cho wants me and Jane to go talk to the family of Derrick Lannister," Lisbon said.

"Is that the guy who stabbed Theo?" Wylie asked.

"No," Vega said. "That was some guy named Ventimiglia. Lannister was the one that Lisbon took out."

"No," Lisbon said. "You killed Lannister, I shot Ventimiglia."

"Pregnancy brain," Wylie whispered after Lisbon had walked away.

Vega elbowed him. "Shhh!"

"No one heard me!"

"I heard you."

"You already know!"

"Know what?"

They jumped at the appearance of Cho. "Nothing, boss," Wylie said. "We were just teasing each other."

"Okay. Wylie, I'd like you to go with Jane and Lisbon. I think this would be a good case to ease you back into the field after the Brown case."

Wylie nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Look at you," Vega said, "out in the field while I'm going to those 'you shot somebody' counselling sessions."

"I can't say I'm jealous," he said. "You feeling okay? You look a little pale."

"Yeah," she said, "a little dizzy maybe. I'm fine." She rose on her tiptoes and pushed her nose against his. "See you later?"

* * *

Vega had an hour to wait before her counselling session. She hated them; she refused to see the FWTC therapist after only one session, so the time between Wylie leaving and her appointment seemed to fly. When it was finally time, she rose, feeling a sense of dread.

Walking toward the elevator, Vega suddenly felt faint. She stopped, putting a hand on the wall to steady herself. A wave of nausea came over her, and she darted for the bathroom, determined not to vomit out in the open.

By the time she reached the bathroom, she no longer felt like she had to throw up, but the dizziness was still there, and she just felt _strange._ Her stomach was beginning to hurt, and she couldn't tell if she was just worried about the counseling appointment or if something was wrong.

It didn't take her long to get an answer. The unpleasant feeling suddenly got worse, shifting into full blown cramping like she had never experienced before, even when she hadn't been on the pill. Vega lurched forward, her hand pressing against her stomach. She felt a warm sensation between her legs, and peering down, she suddenly felt dizzy with fear, her knees buckling. She pulled her jacket off, wrapping it around her waist as she left the bathroom in search of help, fighting the dizziness.

She tried to stay on her feet, to get to her desk where her cell phone sat on top of the Lannister file, but then she was on the ground, curling up. She felt the panic setting in. Once again she was on the ground, bleeding, without her phone, and she was all alone. She could hear herself breathing, she could feel her heart pounding in at least four different places, and then she heart something else.

"Vega!"

Her head lolled in the direction of the voice. "Cho," she said, her voice not sounding familiar to her.

"Hey, hey," Cho said, dropping down next to her. "What's happening? Vega, talk to me."

"Cho."

"Vega, what's wrong? Vega!"

"I need to go to the hospital," she mumbled. "I'm going to lose the baby, Cho."

"Baby?" Cho said. "Vega, are you _pregnant_?"

"Seven weeks," she said, her hand pressed against the soft skin on her abdomen between her hip bones. "Cho, I need to go to..."

"We're going," Cho said. "We're going right now. Can you stand?"

Vega nodded. "I...I think so."

"I got you," he said, getting to his feet and pulling her with him. He put her arm around his shoulders and slid his free arm under hers to support her. "Are you lightheaded?"

"A little," she said. "Cho, what if it's too late?

"Just try to stay calm," he said. "We'll get there. It'll be okay."

"When will Jason be back?" She mumbled. "He's been gone for hours already!"

"He's been gone forty five minutes," Cho said. "You can call him from the car, okay?"

* * *

They entered the elevator, and Vega staggered, gripping Cho's shirt. "You're okay," Cho said. He could feel her heart pounding. It took a lot to make Michelle Vega afraid and that was one of her strengths – but possibly her one weakness was her tendency to panic when something did rattle her. He'd seen this before. "It's okay, breathe in...good. And out. In, one, two, three, out, four five six." She nodded, trying to obey. Cho hugged her close and rubbed her arm comfortingly. "Just breathe."

When they got to the car, Vega hesitated. "Hey," Cho said. "Messing up the car is the least of my concerns. Get in, soldier. That's an order." Vega nodded, letting Cho assist her in easing inside.

"Here we go," Cho said, putting the vehicle in drive and quickly accelerating. "It's going to be okay. Keep breathing."

Her hands pressed against her stomach, Vega tipped her head back against the seat and closed her eyes, trying not to hyperventilate. Cho watched her out of the corner of his eye, internally reeling at the knowledge that she was pregnant and at the same time trying to keep himself from becoming anxious. This woman gave him too many close calls.

By the time they reached the hospital, Vega had calmed down some, though she was still in obvious discomfort. "I'm going to go call Wylie for you," Cho said as they loaded her onto a bed to roll to an examination room. He'd been too afraid to suggest it when they were in the car; Vega had been close to tears the entire drive.

"Please don't leave," she said.

"Hey," Cho said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it. "You're in good hands. I'm going to get your husband here for you. You just keep breathing and listen to what they say, okay?" She nodded. "Good," Cho said, smiling and releasing her hand as the nurses began to move her away. He spun on his heel and ran outside to call Wylie.


	14. Chapter 14

**It's still Wega Wednesday for a couple of hours, so here's a new chapter!**

* * *

Wylie felt he was sweating out his head by the time he made it to the hospital, racing inside. Cho met him in the waiting room, pointing him toward the receptionist. She directed him to Vega's room.

"Michelle," he said, as he came through the door. She was laying in the bed, an oxygen tube under her nose. When she saw him, her eyes widened and she reached for him, sitting up. "Wylie..."

"I'm right here," he said, leaning over and curling his arms around her. She was shaking. "I'm right here. Are you okay?"

"No," she said, her fingers digging into his shoulders. "They won't tell me anything."

"They won't tell you anything?" He rocked her, gently, not wanting to let her go. "Why won't they tell you anything?"

"Well, in all fairness, they don't know anything," she said. "Except for that it's a threatened miscarriage."

"A threatened..." Wylie had no idea what that meant.

"They don't know," she said, leaning back to look at him. "The bleeding has stopped. But it's going to be a day or so before we know if..." she stopped, pressing her lips together. "If I'm still pregnant." She put a hand over her eyes. "They have to do some tests and stuff...and I'll get an ultrasound tomorrow. They said this happens sometimes...sometimes it's nothing, sometimes the pregnancy ends."

"Do they know what caused this?" Wylie asked.

She shook her head, tears springing to her eyes. "I'm so sick of hospitals, Wylie. I'm sick of something being wrong with me. I'm sick of feeling helpless."

"I know," he said. "I know. Hey," He squeezed her hand. "What can I do?"

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head and looking down. "There's nothing anybody can do."

"Hey, how is everything?"

Wylie and Vega both looked at the door. "Cho," Wylie said. "Thank you so much for bringing her, I feel awful about..."

"Hey," Cho said in his low tone, walking over to them. "You were doing your job, she got here, and everything's going to be fine."

"Maybe," Vega said quietly.

"Jason Wylie?" A nurse appeared in the door.

"Yes," Wylie said, rising and looking in her direction. "What's going on here?"

"Come with me, please, we have some things to discuss with you, briefly?"

"You can't discuss it here?"

"She just wants to give you care pamphlets to make sure you know what I can and cannot do once I go home," Vega said.

Wylie nodded, looking down at his wife. "I'll be back soon," he said, squeezing her hand.

"You hanging in there?" Cho asked as Wylie exited the room.

Vega cleared her throat. "I'm fine." She looked down. "I, uh..." She ran a finger under her eyes to clear tears.

"Hey, hey," Cho said reaching over and grabbing one of her hands. "You know what they say about women."

She looked at him curiously.

"That it's not about how long she can go before she breaks," Cho said slowly, "but how she goes on after she's been broken."

She smiled. "Are you trying to tell me not to be embarrassed?"

"Something like that." He cleared his throat. "Just remember that you've been through more than most people and you've come through it all. It's okay to feel afraid sometimes. Or not good enough. We all feel that way. I'm serious," he said when she raised her eyebrows. "You're incredible, Michelle. It's all going to be okay, trust me."

Vega was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Okay."

A small smile from the senior agent. "You believe it's going to be okay?"

She nodded again, suddenly completely believing it. "Uh-huh."

"Good."

* * *

Wylie spent the night in Vega's room, sleeping on the floor despite the staff's continued reminders that there were comfortable – Vega laughed at that – couches in the waiting room. He refused. He wasn't leaving her side.

Not, that is, until noon, when no one had come in to do an ultrasound. After a few minutes of speaking his mind to the front desk, a doctor appeared in Vega's room to tell her that her test results would be back shortly. "Shortly" turned into nearly two hours, but finally things were happening. Vega raised her eyebrows at the doctor doing the ultrasound himself, but then noticed that Wylie looked quite pleased with himself about that.

* * *

"I'm pleased to be the one to give you the news," Dr. Fortin said, moving the sensor around over Vega's stomach, "based on the tests that we've done and this...you see this?" She pointed at a spot on the screen. "The embryo is still attached to the uterine wall." She smiled. "It seems as if you, Michelle, are still pregnant."

"Oh my God," she said, grinning wildly, her hands over her mouth. She looked at Wylie her eyes bright, and he bent down to kiss her. They looked back at the screen. "So that's our baby?" Wylie asked.

"That's your baby."

Vega's hand slipped into his. "It looks just like you," she joked. She turned to the doctor. "So, what does this mean?" she asked, serious again. "Can I go home? Is the baby in any extra danger?"

"We will discharge you today," Fortin told her. "But with strict instructions. You must eliminate any caffeine intake and avoid high stress environments. Do not use tampons or douches, and no sex until your symptoms have been gone for ten days. And if you begin to bleed again, come to us immediately."

"Did this have anything to do with...with her previous injuries?" Wylie asked, tightening his grip on his wife's hand.

"Probably not," said one of the nurses. "Many women experience bleeding of some sort. More often than not, there's no danger. In this case, we do want you to be very careful for a while, but all signs are good now."

"Thank you," Vega said, smiling up at Wylie.

When the doctor left, and the nurse went to get discharge papers, Vega sat up, dangling her legs off the bed and looking at Wylie. "I feel a little better now."

"Me too," Wylie said. "I was worried that this might have something to do with before...but now? It's all good. You're okay. You're going to be okay." He grinned from ear to ear. "That makes me the happiest person in the world."

She gave him a small smile back.

* * *

"You want anything to eat?" Wylie asked as they came in the front door.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You're trying to make me feel better by offering to cook?"

"There's...leftovers."

She smirked. "No thank you. I just wanna..."

"Wanna what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

Wylie gestured to the game consoles. "You want to play?"

She sighed. "Maybe."

"Hey," Wylie said, grabbing her hand and walking around to face her. "We got good news today."

"I know." Vega's hand instinctively went to her stomach – she'd been placing it too high prior to the scare, but now she knew exactly _where_ the baby was at this point. "I'm just...scared, I guess."

"I am too."

Vega looked up at him, her eyes telling Wylie that he'd made the right call by being. A small smile came over her face. "But it's going to be okay."

"Yes," Wylie said, nodding. "Yes, it's going to be okay." He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. "And we get to sleep in a comfortable bed tonight!"

"You could have gone home and gotten a few hours," she said. "I was asleep anyway."

"No," Wylie said. "I was too worried about you. I had to stay in the room with you so I could keep on reminding myself, _she's okay_."

"Wylie," she said, annoyed, pulling back.

He frowned. "What?"

"I just..." she shook her head. "That's not enough."

"Iiiiiiii..." he continued to hold out the word for several seconds. "Iiiiiiii don't understand."

"Look," she said, coming up to him again and putting her hands on his chest, "I'm glad that I'm alive. And I know that, for you, it's enough that I'm here, that most of my days are painless..."

"I wish all of them were."

"I know," she said, "not my point. I mean, I know I'm lucky, but...I'm not like I was. And I wish it was enough for me that I'm alive, but I want to be the person I was before that."

"The nurse said the shooting had nothing to do with what happened today."

"It _probably_ didn't." Vega reminded him of the nurse's exact words. "And even if not, I was still in the hospital again. Same old, same old. Like it's been for the past five years. If we're being honest here, Wylie, things have gotten nothing but better for you since the shooting. Everything else is the same for you, but you have me. And I have you – and I _love_ you – but I also have a body that will never be the same. I have a body with less organs. I have a body filled with scar tissue. I have a fantastic chance of a normal life span, but odds are, fifty, sixty years down the road it _will_ be a complication from that day in the diner that kills me. And I know you know all of that, but you don't have to live it as closely as I do, because it isn't you. You aren't as aware of it as I am, because it isn't you. And I know that people say 'Michelle, don't be frustrated. Don't be sad - others have it worse!' But no one would ever tell someone 'don't be happy, others have it better!' I'm sorry, Jay, but 'at least you're alive' doesn't work for me anymore. I don't want to _just_ be alive."

Wylie was silent, thinking about what she said, biting his lower lip as he stared blankly off to the side. Vega waited, the kitchen so silent she could almost hear her own heartbeat again, until he nodded slowly and said, "I understand." He looked at her. "I'm sorry, babe." He stepped closer to her, she could tell he was intending to take her hands, but she took the extra step forward, bringing their bodies together and putting her hands on his chest and her forehead against her hands. He put his arms around her again. "What do you want to do?"

"Can we go to bed?" Her voice was muffled against his chest.

Wylie rubbed her back. "Sure." He kept holding her a moment longer, then stepped to the side, reached down and scooped her up. She gave a yelp of surprise, then giggled and tipped her forehead toward him as he carried her into their bedroom. Lowering her onto the bed, Wylie remained bent forward, touching first his lips then his own forehead to hers. She reached up and placed her hand on the back of his neck. "I love you a lot," she said in a whisper.

His lips reached for hers again, and she closed her eyes happily, enjoying the comfortable feel of her head being pushed against the pillow and the tender feel of her husband.

* * *

 **I wanted to show more of Vega's frustrations over her limitations since the shooting. She's grateful to be alive, but she hates that she's living in a more limited capacity now. Most days, her being alive and fairly functional is enough, but sometimes, she just wishes she could go back to before.**


	15. Chapter 15

**I know this chapter is short, but I wanted to get this thing updated one more time this month. I've missed the past several Wega Wednesdays but I didn't want to wait for the next one. Maybe I'll have an update then, too.**

* * *

When Wylie awoke, his wife was still asleep , her head tipped toward his side. He smiled. She was in the oversized sweatpants he'd brought her when she got discharged and her black sports bra – she was the only person he'd ever spent a night with that actually slept in a bra – but although he raised his eyes at her initially, now it was part of what made him smile when he observed her like this. It was part of the style that made her Uniquely Michelle. And after the scare of the day before, seeing her so sound asleep, looking so like she usually did, and seeming so relaxed, made Wylie feel so, so much better.

He ran his hand over her, starting down between her hips, where the baby was at this stage, and all the way up to the spot right below her sternum where the bullet had entered. It was a bumpy path, traveling over all of her scars.

 _I have a body that will never be the same._

She was right, Wylie knew. He hadn't thought of it that way before, but although he was hardly blind to her scars, he had never really thought about them beyond the fact that they represented her long term fight for her life. Her abdomen had, at one point, been all smooth. Her abdomen, at one point, had all been one color. He'd never known it any way other than this. But she had. And of course, this all went, on both physical and mental levels, way deeper than some scars.

Wylie felt terrible that he hadn't thought of it that way before. She'd been right – he was so grateful, he thanked every deity he could think of every single day that she'd made it and although he thought in time the memory of how he'd felt during that awful six weeks might fade, it never had. Every single time he looked at her he was reminded of how lucky he was, how lucky she was, how lucky _they_ were. He had to be better at remembering that the kind of frustration, fear, and pain he felt whenever she had to go back into the hospital for whatever reason, she probably felt on some level every single day.

"You have to understand though," he said softly, "that I will never stop being glad you're here, you're able to go back to work…I _am_ sorry I haven't been more sensitive, but I will never apologize for being so happy you're right here." he bit his lip, then quietly began to sing. "Michelle, ma belle. These are words that go together well – my Michelle."

Vega stirred at the sound of his voice, rolling over onto her side against him. Wylie slid his arms around her and cuddled her close. "Yep," he whispered. "My Michelle."


	16. Chapter 16

**I've been sitting on this draft for who even knows how long at this point, so I figured it was time to go through it and publish it as a CONGRATS ON YOUR NEW CAR present for Roxanne.**

* * *

"Not going to work today?" Wylie asked when Vega came out from her shower in casual clothing.

"Not until later. Kemper had her corrective procedure done last night and I'm going to see her. Cho said it might be good for her. I guess she's going to scar pretty bad and she's having a rough time of it." Vega shook her head. "I don't know how I'm supposed to help her. Our scars aren't visible. My only concern is my ability to do my job, I don't need a part of me no one but you sees to be aesthetically pleasing."

"A lot of people do, though," Wylie said. "And that's okay, you know."

"I know," Vega said quickly. "I'm not saying I'm better than her or anything. I just mean…I can't empathize."

"I'm sure she'll be glad to see you," Wylie said. "Oh, Angela called this morning before you got up…"

"I'll see you later," she said, rising on her tiptoes to kiss him. "Maybe I'll go crazy and make spaghetti tonight."

* * *

"Knock knock."

Vega was pleased at the smile that came over her coworker's face when she lifted her head. "Hey."

"How are you feeling, Theo?" Vega asked, walking over to the bed.

"Oh, I'm fine," she said. "They're releasing me today. I'll be back at work by the weekend."

"That's great," Vega said. She sat down in the chair and touched her stomach. "I was glad to be back to work. It was great to prove to myself that I could still do my job. Now, my stomach, oh gosh, it's not pretty, but I felt really proud when I was able to be happy with my body again. Body positivity is so important, and…"

"Vega," Kemper said, "I know what you're doing."

"What do you mean?" she asked, recognizing the incredibly fake tone in her own voice and cringing.

"Cho told you to come here and try to make me feel better, didn't he?"

"He might as well have sent Lisbon, I suppose."

"Look," Kemper said, "I appreciate it. But I've struggled with loving my body my whole life and I've found ways to handle it. I feel like crap now, but I promise you, I'll get over it." She smiled. "My body is the reason my kid exists and that makes it enough for me, most of the time. I just hate being in this hospital again."

"Tell me about it," Vega said. "When I was here yesterday, it was so hard to accept that once again…"

"You were in the hospital?" Kemper asked, looking concerned. "Were you hurt at work again?"

"No," Vega said, deciding to gloss over the incident, "we had a slight concern about the baby and they recommended a little bit of bedrest is all." She smirked in spite of herself. "And don't say it like that. It makes it sound like I'm perpetually getting hurt on the job."

"Baby?" Kemper said.

Vega realized this particular development was not one that Kemper had been enlightened to yet. "Oh. Yeah. I'm almost eight weeks pregnant."

Kemper's jaw dropped. "And I'm the last to know!"

Vega laughed. "Let me tell you, you're finding out early. When Wylie was visiting me at the FWTC, he'd been coming for gosh, I don't even _know_ how long before he let it slip that Jane and Lisbon got married and were expecting Madeline. And Lisbon was already pregnant when I was shot."

"This is different!"

"Yes it is," Vega said. "Because I, for once, am not the last to know something!"

Kemper rolled her eyes.

* * *

She was sitting on the couch when Wylie got home. "How's Theo?" he asked. He wanted to ask why she'd never come into work that day, but he sensed it wasn't the time.

"She'll be okay," Vega said. "We had a good talk, ultimately."

"Good." He sniffed the air. "Spaghetti!"

"Told you!"

He smiled. "You okay?"

"Yep."

"You sure?" Wylie's eyes fell on the completely full plate in front of her. "You normally inhale that stuff."

"I'm fine," she said. "Just a little shook up from yesterday, I guess. Kemper's injury combined, it just sort of reminded me how easily something could happen to the baby while I'm at work, and I have no idea how Lisbon held it together and worked up until a few days before Mimi was born."

"You know…there was that phone call from Angela," Wylie said. "I'd told her that you hadn't been feeling well and that's why she hadn't heard from you. She said no pressure, but her position will need to be filled in the next two weeks and it's a lot sa…"

"I can't do it."

"What?"

Her hands were shaking as she aimlessly gestured. "I can't do it. I can't be there all the time." She pulled the afghan up over her knees and rocked back and forth, closing her eyes. "More hospitals, more sick people, that disgustingly sterile smell…I can't escape it. I'd say I can't make it my life but it already is and I can't let it take over my work because it's all I have and…" she stopped talking abruptly, pressing her lips together as tears leaked out.

"Hey hey hey," Wylie said quickly, dropping down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "I'm going to tell Cho that we need some time off."

"No," Vega protested. "If I can't even do my job…"

"Michelle," he said, softly, quietly, "the most responsible thing you can do is recognize when you need a break. Give yourself time. Allow yourself to recover to when you can come back and be the best FBI agent you can be, which is a hell of a lot better than most of us. If you get like this just by thinking about hospitals, you're not there emotionally right now and I think you know that. Hey," he said in a whisper. "I don't want to make you feel helpless. I'm not asking to let me take care of you. I just want you to take care of yourself."

She looked at him for a long time, her eyes unreadable. Then she sighed and closed them.

"Jay."

The word was spoken in defeat, in resigned, reluctant acceptance, and she crumpled against him, limp.

* * *

 **I know this may seem that I'm dragging out Vega's emotional pain. But one thing I've learned from my struggles with depression is sometimes you hit a low point, you manage to buid yourself up and think "now things will be better," but then you just hit another low. And Vega's had a lot to deal with the past few years, and they've all managed to come to a head in a couple of days. So she's really struggling right now.**


	17. Chapter 17

**I have spent the past few months almost chronically exhausted, which makes it hard to write things after work. But it's Wega Wednesday, and I have been slowly drafting this for over a week now, and it's time to finally post it. Hope you guys like this update.**

* * *

"Don't forget we leave in an hour to go meet the Janeling at the park," Wylie called as he knocked lightly on the bathroom door.

"Yup!" came her voice over the shower. Wylie raised an eyebrow as he realized it was still running. She'd been in there for thirty minutes already. Michelle Vega was not someone who generally took long showers. In and out, she would always say. Time to start the day.

"Okay, well, my clothes are in there," he said. "I'm about to do dishes in my underwear!"

"That's hot."

He rolled his eyes, smirking as he left for the kitchen.

When the shower was still running after the dishes were in the drainer, he cracked the bathroom door open. "Michelle?"

Nothing. He frowned. "Hey, you okay?" He walked to the shower door and hesitantly opened it, finding her standing still, hands at her sides, the water playing off the back of her head. Her eyes were open, but she didn't seem to notice him at first. "Hey," he said. "What are you thinking about?"

She stared at him for several seconds before responding. "I haven't even washed my hair yet."

It wasn't necessarily an answer to his question, but hey, Wylie would take it. "You planning on doing that?"

"Eh," she said tiredly.

He smiled, closed the shower door briefly and removed his boxers before reopening the door and entering the shower with her. "Come on, Michelle, we don't want to keep Mimi waiting." He reached for her shampoo bottle, opening the cap and making a spiral pattern on the top of her head.

"Wylie!" she protested. "That's too much!" She put her hands in her hair, attempting to grab handfuls of the stuff, and wiped it on his shoulders. He grinned, putting his hands in her hair, working the shampoo into a lather. She was grinning up at him, the water from the shower hitting her neck and bouncing off in all directions.

"Hey, tip it back," he said, putting pressure under her chin so the water would be able to rinse her hair. She closed her eyes, her hands coming up to rest on his chest. When he'd rinsed her hair, he pulled her closer to him, kissing the top of her head. She tipped hers forward, resting her forehead on his chest. "I'm not going to be very fun for Mimi today, am I?"

"Considering how Jane has been overcompensating for everything that's happened in the past week by being excruciatingly cheerful," Wylie said, "I doubt Mimi won't appreciate the down time."

She smiled, lifting her head to look up at him. "Hey, remember when we tried to do it in here and you broke your wrist?"

Wylie cleared his throat. "No. See you outside."

* * *

Vega was glad that Mimi chose Wylie as the one to run to when she saw them – the doctor didn't want her lifting anything heavy at the moment. Wylie, on the other hand, was perfectly capable and willing to pick the little girl up and spin her around. She giggled, but Vega was relieved when Wylie hugged her and she quieted right down, cuddling up to him. She was mellow today.

"Auntie Shell," Mimi said, dropping to her knees when Wylie set her down. She picked a flowering weed out of the grass and got up, walking over to Vega. "This is for you."

"Aw," Vega said, hunkering down and kissing the girl's forehead. "Thank you. I'll put it right behind my ear, how does that sound?"

"Okay." She smiled. "Mommy says you haven't been feeling good."

"She's right," Vega said, "but I'm feeling better today. I haven't gotten to see you in a long time! Did you miss us?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"We missed you too." She touched the girl's nose. "Do you want to go down to the river and feed the ducks?"

"Yes!"

She skipped ahead, looking back every minute or so to make sure she hadn't made the gap between herself and Wylie and Vega too far. "She's a good kid," Wylie said, letting his fingers curl around his wife's as they walked.

"She's Jane's second chance and Lisbon's only chance," Vega said. "They're putting one hundred and ten percent into everything to do with her." She looked at the ground. "I think part of why...part of why I'm so scared something's going to happen with this pregnancy is..." she knew there was a pained look on her face when she stopped and faced him. "I feel like this baby is...is both. Our second chance. And our only one."

"Mimi, hang on a sec," Wylie called to the girl before facing Vega again. He took both her hands. "I got a second chance with you. And it's hard, sometimes, going day to day without worrying about if I'll lose you again. But I can't let that control my life. Remember how Jane fell apart when he thought he might lose Lisbon? Loss exists. Angela and Charlotte. Your dad. You, for a few weeks. But if we let ourselves get paralyzed by fear of loss, eventually we'll lose more than what we feared."


	18. Chapter 18

**This is a shorter update, but I'm setting up for some later plot so just laying some foundation here, and giving both readers and characters a slight breather from the angsty stuff. And I'm throwing in subtle Scorpion, The Westing Game, and Sister Act references because that's what I do I guess.**

* * *

Vega told Wylie she was going "for a drive."

"A drive?" Wylie said. "That's a bit of a wild way to spend the evening, isn't it?"

"I'm not keeping pace with a plane," she said. "I'm just going to meander a bit."

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with that," he said jokingly. "I know how many cars you've crashed."

"Always to catch a bad guy!"

"Still," Wylie said. "It's a rather large and expensive weapon of choice."

She swatted him. "I'll be back."

* * *

When she got in the car, Vega honestly had no destination in mind. But then, forty five minutes later, she found herself pulling into her regular spot at work. She sat there for a long time, looking up at their floor, suddenly very badly wanting to talk to her boss. Fortunately, her investigation found him still there.

"Can I talk to you, sir?"

"Sure, Vega," Cho said, closing the file he was looking at and folding his hands. "Is something the matter?"

"Yeah. Not...not with work, I mean, I haven't been here, it's just..." she fidgeted. "This isn't appropriate, sir, what I'm about to say, but...I kinda have to?"

Cho nodded. "Go ahead."

"I've been really scared," she said, folding her own hands, surprising herself at how sweaty they were. "Every little thing has me convinced something is wrong with the baby, and I get myself so worked up, and I'm supposed to be stronger than this, everyone tells me how tough I am but inside I'm just a shaking, fragile mess, and it's so embarrassing to admit this to _you_ , because you...I've looked up to you since the day I first got here and you're always so stoic and..."

"I cried."

"What?"

"The day you died. I cried. I don't know if you knew that. I'd been tough on you earlier, because I was angry with you, but also because I knew you'd come out a better agent. And you were blossoming, and then you were gone, and it was my fault, and I hated myself. I told Wylie the only way to honor you was to stay here and keep fighting the fight, and that's the only reason I stayed. I felt that that was the only way to make up for not being able to protect you."

"That doesn't sound like you."

"It isn't like me." Cho was matter of fact. "It's not. But extreme situations can and do change us, they can make us break. And it's safe to say that what you've been through is extreme. But you know..." he trailed off. "I was dating a woman named Summer. It was years ago, years before we met even. And she told me about how a friend of hers had a baby, and she was born premature, and so for the first four years of her life, she had to have appointments every couple weeks to do tests, how is her brain developing, how are her motor skills, how is her speech, etcetera. And that frustrated her mother because other kids who were born full term, some of them took longer to walk or talk or pick things up, but their parents weren't constantly informed about it because their kids weren't under a microscope."

Vega cocked her head. "So..."

"So with you being in the hospital, they gave you lists of warning signs, more extensive ones, and they're keeping an eye on you. Even if something happens again, you'll catch it early. It's going to be okay. Don't let this fear hijack your pregnancy. Enjoy this with Wylie. As best as you can."

Vega smiled. "Thanks, Cho."

He smiled back. "Anything you need, Michelle. You know that."

* * *

Wylie slid the book he was reading under the seat cushion next to him when his wife returned. "Hey Michelle!" he said casually.

"Oh please," she said, "I know you're re-reading The Westing Game and I've told you a million times it's a brilliant book and I don't care if I read it in seventh grade you can read it as many times as you want."

"I just really like Turtle, okay?"

"Turtle is the best one," Vega agreed.

"Are you feeling better?"

"You know?" she hung up her jacket and smiled at him, one hand still on the rack. "I do. We're going to be okay. The three of us. It's all going to be okay."

Wylie grinned. "I'm glad to hear you say that."

Vega walked across the living room to him, biting her lower lip slightly, and despite her body language as she walked, which should have been familiar, he was startled when she lowered herself onto his lap and put her mouth on his, her hands firmly holding onto his jaw. Wylie kissed her back, relieved at seeing her so relaxed, but froze, grabbing her wrists as her hands started to unbutton his shirt. " _Michelle_ ," he said. "No!"

"Why not?"

"The doctors said..."

"The doctors said until the bleeding had for sure stopped. It's been days, Wylie, almost a week. You're right, we can't walk on eggshells. We're in love, we're having a baby, we have to enjoy this time in our lives." She slid her hands up to his face again. "I love you, Jay. This isn't going to hurt anything."

There was a light in her eyes that Wylie was beginning to fear would be absent a long time. "Well," he said, a hand at her belt buckle, "as long as you love me."


	19. Chapter 19

"I do really feel better," Vega said when Wylie came out of their room the following morning to find her making waffles.

"Are you sure?" Wylie said. "Because you've only ever made the heart shaped ones when you were feeling like you had to make up for something."

Vega added another layer of waffles to the stack on the plate. "I know, and you're right, see, I haven't been a lot of fun lately, ba!" She held up her spatula when Wylie started to speak. "I know what you're going to say, and don't. I'm not making these waffles because I forgot our anniversary, I'm making them because I haven't been fair to myself. I've doubted myself and hated myself and hated my body and I really haven't been living. It's like I told you on the couch last night, for a while, after my accident, I couldn't figure out how to be happy. I wasn't capable of being happy until you found me. And then again when I kept going back into the hospital, you know how much of a struggle it was for me. And for you, too." She added more batter to the waffle maker and closed it, turning to face her husband. "But in between those hospital stays, I was happy." She smiled. "We were happy." She reached out, and Wylie walked close enough to grab her hands. "And it seems like recently I haven't been able to find the good things." She bit her lip. "You know I hate when people say happiness is a choice. It isn't. Sometimes you can't. You can't just decide to not feel these things. You know? But last night I actually was feeling happy again, like I did when we got married or when I found out I was pregnant or when I found out I wasn't leaving the country. And the funk I was in, it didn't even really last long, but it felt like..."

"Years."

"Years." She nodded. "So this morning when I woke up, I thought, I'm going to make some heart waffles. Jay likes them, and now that I'm capable of feeling better, I'll like them too. It's like I'm making up for recently, to myself." She held the plate out with a smile. "Waffle?"

"You first."

* * *

"Agents Wylie!" Jane called from where he was perched on Lisbon's desk. "Ah," he said, his eyebrows shooting up. "It was a heart waffle morning, was it?"

"It still weirds me out when you do that," Wylie told him as they passed by. Lisbon was rolling her eyes.

"Wylie," Cho said, coming down the hallway. "Can I see you in my office?"

"Which one of us?" Vega asked, and Wylie grinned; she knew Cho meant him, but she always used to make a point of them both technically being Agent Wylie.

It was Cho's turn to roll his eyes. "How is Michelle doing?" he asked when Wylie entered his office and the door was shut.

"You know," Wylie said, the grin still on his face, "she has been doing really well since she got home last night."

"Good."

"I know it'll be up and down like it always has been, but you know, she's able to have happy days again, and I'm a little less worried about her, so..." Wylie nodded, still smiling.

"Glad to hear it," Cho said. "I was thinking about you guys after Michelle and I talked last night. I told her anything she needs, and you know that goes for you, too."

Wylie nodded. "Of course. And we appreciate it, Boss."

"Okay." Cho motioned toward the door. "I have some facial recognition stuff I need you to run. Info is on your desk."

"Okay. Thank you. It's good to be back," Wylie stammered as he left Cho's office in a rush. As he walked down the hall back to the bullpen, he had to remind himself that he was supposed to be smiling.

* * *

 **Sorry this was on the shorter side, but I wanted to get back into writing this. Hopefully I'll have another update by the end of the week, when we'll find out a little more about why the conversation with Cho upset Wylie.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Here's another update. If you're reading this, please know that I really do appreciate getting reviews on these chapters. When I update and don't get anything, it makes me wonder if people are still reading. If you want to keep getting more of this and other Wega stories, please let me know, so I don't mistakenly stop writing because I'm under the impression that no one cares.**

* * *

"Who are we trying to identify?" Wylie asked as he activated his facial recognition software.

"This man," Lisbon said, sliding an eight by ten across the desk. Vega leaned past her to see. "He is our prime suspect in a series of home invasions of local politicians. He may be working for some people looking to fix next year's elections in favor of those who want to deport everyone who isn't a U.S. citizen."

"Even people here through legal channels?"

"All the victims of the burglaries have one thing in common – their stance on this single issue," Jane said. "Personal documents are being taken, which makes me think this man, or someone who hired him, let's be honest, you can tell by this one security image that he does not take his political opinions to the extreme - " Cho rolled his eyes at Jane's confidence " – but he's the prime candidate for petty thievery for hire. We find him, we should be able to break him and figure out who he is working for."

"But we have no idea who he is."

"No one recognized him when we circulated the photo near the crime scenes," Lisbon said. "Agent Kemper and I talked to over fifty people within three blocks of every house."

"Well, just give me an hour or two and I'll let you know his name, address, family, and the last place he bought lunch," Wylie said.

Vega smirked.

"We'll leave you to it, then," Cho said. "Vega, I need you and Lisbon to go back to one of the crime scenes and speak to the family; all but one were not home when we were there the morning after the incident. Wylie, keep working. Jane, I can tell by the way you keep looking at your watch that you need to run home and try and surprise the babysitter to see if it's her or Mimi eating your muffins, so go. Meet up with Lisbon and Vega at the house."

"Got it, boss," they all said, slightly out of unison.

* * *

"His name is Frederick Schumacher," Wylie said. "Twenty four. He lives in Laredo, but he's originally from Huntsville, just moved here two months ago. Doesn't appear to have any living relatives but does have a couple MIPs from his college days. Looks like he dropped out because there's no record of a graduation."

"But what did he have for lunch?"

Wylie rolled his eyes as he adjusted the phone to be held between his shoulder and ear. "I'm not a miracle worker, Michelle." He smiled. "You enjoying being in the field again?"

"It feels like it's been longer than two weeks," she said. "Lisbon even paid for my hot chocolate."

"Hot chocolate?"

"I can't for the life of me remember if I can drink coffee. And that place down the street puts whipped cream on theirs now. What?" He heard a muffled voice in the background. "Okay," she said, speaking to him again, "apparently that isn't that recent of a development. But it's new to me, and I like it. How are you?"

"Okay," Wylie said, setting his jaw for a moment before speaking again. "I'm glad you sound happy."

"I am," she said. "I feel so good, today."

"Good." Wylie nodded, even though she couldn't see him. "Well, I'll let you get back to work. Text me when you guys are on your way back, okay?"

"Of course. Love you."

"Love you too."

Wylie put his phone down, pressing the side button to turn off the display after she had hung up. He tapped his fingers on the desk, glancing over at hers. There was a picture frame sitting on it. He couldn't see from his angle, but he knew there was a picture of them in it, on their wedding day. She had stood on a chair to appear taller than him, then leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind, kissing his temple and then resting her cheek against his. Her aunt had gotten the picture, both of them smiling like idiots. Wylie had the same photo in his wallet. The one on his desk was from her first day back working at the FBI, under her new identity, Michelle Bonaventura. His arm was around her shoulders; one of hers was around his waist, and her other hand was held up by her chest, giving the camera a thumbs up. They were both wearing their FBI badges. The biggest similarity between his desk photo and hers were their smiles.

"Was that Vega?"

"Yeah," Wylie said. He relayed the information he'd given Vega to Cho, adding that he believed the two women would be home within the hour. "Jane ever meet up with them?"

"No," Cho said. "I sent him out to survey the employees of the park next to the second victim's home. We suspected a few of them were lying about never seeing Schumacher before." He paused a moment, then spoke again. "She will thrive the next couple months she's able to work at full capacity. I think now that she's feeling a bit better, work will help her. Do you agree?"

"Yeah," Wylie said, unsure of if he wanted to be having this conversation. He blocked his next thought from leaving his lips.

"Good." Cho turned to head to the elevator. "I'm going to meet up with Jane, see what we can figure out."

"Okay."

He watched his boss go. Once the elevator doors closed behind him, sighed. "Nothing I tried made you feel better."

 _But one conversation with Cho, and you're smiling like you are in those photos._


	21. Chapter 21

**Wanted more of a fluffy chapter, then saw a few 'imagine your otp arguing about X' things on Tumblr and turned that into this chapter. The characterization I have in this chapter goes back to things we learned in If I Can Leave Off Burying The White.**

* * *

"That doesn't look like work."

Vega jumped, turning from her laptop to look at her husband, who was leaning against the doorframe to their study, smiling. "I'll get to it," she said. "My homepage had a link to this great JFK assassination documentary."

"Are you pro-conspiracy?" Wylie folded his arms. "Or pro solo mission?"

"Well, I definitely think Oswald had people working with him," Vega said. "Whether or not there was a second shooter is a whole other story. Like, John Wilkes Booth was the only person that actually shot at Lincoln, but there were at least four others involved in the plot, Atzerodt, Herold, Powell, and John Surratt. The mom might have been in on it too; she did hang for it."

"The JFK thing, it is certainly one of those questions that will last the test of time," Wylie said. "Like in fiction, the whole Ross and Rachel thing. When he thought they were on a break."

"What do you mean 'when he thought'?"

"Well, I mean, he slept with that woman and tried to justify it...wait," Wylie trailed off. "You think they were on a break?"

"Of course they were on a break!" Vega said. "What the hell else does 'a break from us' mean? If you're supposed to stay faithful to each other, you're still together. And you can't just be like, 'we are broken up for all intents and purposes other than sex, you can't do that with anyone else.' That's not how it works. I get why she was upset, but like, that crap the next season about how her and her mom apparently talked extensively about how Ross was a cheater?"

"Okay, maybe Ross didn't cheat on her," Wylie said. "But it's kinda crummy of someone to sleep with someone else just hours after you break up."

"He was devastated. He wasn't looking to date her. It was just rebound. That's a thing that happens."

"I can't imagine just sleeping with someone I don't have feelings for."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wondered if they were a bad decision. He knew Vega had had her share of casual hookups prior to going to West Point, and he knew it was her and a guy nearly getting caught fooling around in a classroom that had made her turn away from any sort of intimate relationship to focus on school and work, mostly to not disappoint her father. What Wylie had never done had been her lifestyle, and she'd taken a lot of unfair criticism about it from her peers, from what he understood.

But she just shrugged. "It's still not cheating. And I can't imagine swinging from a rope over a river like Tarzan but that doesn't mean others don't do it."

Wylie felt a smirk starting to overpower him, and she raised an eyebrow. "Are you amused by my example or are you picturing me doing that?"

"The latter," he said, eyeing her playfully. "It's kinda hot."

She rolled her eyes, smacking his chest playfully. "Remember when we debated for a half an hour on whether or not the cub we saw at the end of The Lion King was Kiara or not?"

"Clearly a different cub!" Wylie said. "Just look at the fact that..."

"Hmmm, my stomach's growling," Vega said, standing on her tiptoes and kissing his cheek. "The baby must be hungry, I'm going down the street."

"The baby doesn't want those greasy burgers." Wylie said.

"At least I'm craving cheap food."

"I'll come," Wylie said. "I don't trust you driving when you're hungry. You get aggressive."

"I am not aggressive."

"You crashed two government cars in your first three months at the FBI."

"To solve a case!"

"And the day after Mimi was born you knocked off two mailboxes because you were too impatient to wait for the cat to get out of the center of the road."

"Would you have rather I hit the cat?"

Her grin made him grin. "Just...please let me drive."

She rolled her eyes, still smiling. "Whatever."

Wylie grabbed the keys and followed her out, deciding that, for the moment, he was going to focus on how happy she was, and let that make him happy too, instead of wondering why.


	22. Chapter 22

**I wasn't planning on updating today, but when you're home sick from work and your family is watching football...things happen. Enjoy!**

* * *

"So are all of you coming to our place for Thanksgiving?" Lisbon asked, pressing the correct button on the elevator. The occupants shifted themselves around as the door closed.

"We wouldn't miss it," Wylie said. "Are you going to make mashed potatoes with lumps?"

"That's the only way Jane will eat them. Mimi too," Lisbon smiled fondly. "She takes after him."

"That's terrifying," Vega said.

"I know I'm supposed to respond by telling you that no, it's wonderful and beautiful and perfect," Lisbon said, a mischievous grin on her face, "but yeah. Terrifying does describe it sometimes."

Wylie looked more pleased than anything. "I'm not terrified of any situation where the mashed potatoes are with lumps."

"I will be there providing the kid isn't still sick," Theo said. "I don't want to bring her around Michelle and Mimi if she's contagious and I can't ask the sitter to be away from her family on Thanksgiving. I can't even ask, because she would. She'd drop it all in a second."

"We understand," Jane said, nodding. "The kids are the most important thing."

"I'll make some Chayote salad," Vega said. "And bring it with us."

* * *

"Good, you guys are here," Cho said as Lisbon, Vega, Wylie, Theo, and Jane walked off the elevator. He blinked. "Did you come together?"

"No. Coincidence," Jane said. "And not a terribly unlikely one either, with the four of us coming in two groups of two and an identical start time, if you think about it the odds suggest us taking the same elevator about once every..."

"You can tell me all about it later," Cho said dismissively, gesturing to a tall, commanding man walking up to them. "This is Agent Donald Cranston."

"Don," the man said, nodding to them.

"He will be working with us on this case, he's one of the original officers to pick it up. We have a suspect. Luis Bejarano."

"Multiple witnesses saw him fleeing one of the crime scenes," Don said. "We picked him up an hour ago at a car wash. He isn't talking."

"We also have another witness who wants to add to her statement," Cho said. "Lisbon, she's in room three. Take Kemper, the two of you work on her. Jane, once we get information on him I need you to judge the truthfulness. Wylie, continue the leads you were working on last night, Bejarano may not be our guy and even if he is..."

"He may not be working alone," Don said. He gestured to Vega. "You go with him."

"No," Cho said as the others began to walk off. Vega froze in mid step and backed up to stand just behind Cho when he gestured for her to come back. "I want her to talk to Bejarano."

"I've requested they send..." he wiggled his fingers to demonstrate his mind going blank, "that little woman from the second floor up. To try and talk some reason into him. She'll probably be able to communicate with him a little bit better than you or I."

"I was going to have Agent Bonaventura talk to him," Cho repeated. "She's incredible in the interrogation room."

"Oh," Don said, scoffing and looking mildly amused. "I don't think so."

"Excuse me?"

Cho silenced Vega by holding up a hand. "What's the issue, Don?"

He shrugged, as if it were obvious. "You can't exactly blame me for being…wary…of Agent Bonaventura being on this case."

"Tell me why," Cho said. "And then I'll see if I can blame you."

A smug smile came over Don's face as he folded his arms. "Agent Michelle Bonaventura. It's the worst kept secret in local law enforcement that she's really Agent Michelle Vega, who allegedly suffered a fatal GSW to the abdomen by one Steve Sellers, five years ago."

"How does her identity discredit her ability to work this case?" Cho asked, folding his own arms. He was significantly shorter than Don, but somehow he seemed more imposing.

"Her father. Badilón Vega, if my slight digging is correct, he didn't exactly come to this country by way of Ellis Island."

Vega literally felt the temperature of her blood increase.

"If...if I do recall correctly, didn't _he_ come to this country in a similar fashion as the people we discovered last week. They're smuggling them in with shipments of other contraband that some local authorities have been paid to look the other way on." Don looked down – literally – at Vega, and sneered. "This...agent...could very well be sympathizing with the burglars, rather than the Americans."

"If I may," Vega said, standing up in line with Cho to face the taller agent. "My father came to this country with his baby brother to escape horrid circumstances in Cuba. His siblings who were unable to come with him died. You want to know what the conditions were like? Read any reputable history book. He made it to Miami and got a job, worked fourteen hours a day for months. He ended up in the U.S. Army for nearly forty years. I was born here, I started off in the military and ended up here, working for the FBI, _back_ here even after what happened to me. Don't look down your nose and differentiate me from "the Americans." _Don't you dare_." She stood up straighter, jutting out her chin. "And you know what? I'm going to go and get you the answers you want. You don't have to wait for 'that little woman from the second floor'."

Vega marched toward the interrogation room, the young man sitting quietly at the table. He looked up when she entered, appearing ready to make some snide comment. She didn't let him.

Vega slammed her hands down on the table in front of him. "Esta bien, voy al grano. Dame los nombres o por todos los santos esta mujer embarazada te arrogara por esa ventana. Ah, ves que hablo en serio verdad? Por tu carota veo que me estás tomando en serio." She pulled a piece of paper and pen out of her pocked and slapped them down in front of him. "Ahora tienes _diez segundos_ para escribirlos. Ándale pero ya!"

Less than a minute later Vega marched out of the interrogation room, handing the piece of paper to Don. "This is who he is working for," Vega said. "Now if you need me, I'll be in the break room. I'm eating for two and trust me, you don't want to encounter me pissed off _and_ hungry."

* * *

 **Thanksgiving chapter is next! I'll post a Christmas chapter is we get nearer to the holidays as well.**


	23. Chapter 23

**I was going to make this longer, but I'm very tired and I have a friend who may need a little cheering up tonight, so I thought I'd post this edited part and then just post the second half of the chapter in the next few days.**

 **So this is for Roxanne. The Young Frankenstein reference is for me (and for whoever picks up on it I suppose haha).**

* * *

Vega lasted about twenty minutes in the Jane cabin before running to the bathroom, hearing a quiet "uh oh..." from Mimi before slamming the door and dropping to her knees in front of the toilet. She hated herself for having let her hair down when she was around so many strong smells.

There was a knock at the door. "Michelle?"

"Give me a minute," she said.

"You've been in there ten minutes."

 _What?_ "Oh. Come in."

Vega looked up at her husband as he entered the bathroom, then another wave of nausea hit her and she launched herself back toward the toilet.

He was behind her then, grabbing her hair and pulling it back. "You're okay. It's probably just a reflex now. Deep breaths."

Vega gagged once more, then sucked in a deep, quick breath, let it out slowly, trying to get her body to relax. After a few moments, she puffed out her cheeks as she exhaled, the nausea passing.

"I was doing so well, too," she said, giving a little laugh. "No morning sickness. No dizziness. None of that."

"Well hey, Thanksgiving dinner is a lot of different tastes and smells," Wylie said. "It can be overwhelming. The doctor said your sense of smell might be heightened.

"I'd say that's accurate." She leaned back against him, tipping her head back. "I think I'm okay now. Ugh. Pregnancy clichés. I hate them. Did you know," she said to Wylie, "that the overwhelming majority of women have contractions before their waters break. But if you watch TV or movies, it's always the woman is like 'oooh, my water broke!'. Why does Hollywood do that? What is so dramatic and fascinating about water breaking first?"

"Of all of us, Jane is the closest to have been in that industry," he said. "Maybe ask him. Or this ex-girlfriend of Cho's. I guess once her son was born she did some acting in commercials. I guess he saw her in a local commercial when we did that case on one of Lisbon's old coworkers in Washington State and got kinda quiet and sullen. I mean, more than he usually is..."

"How much of a gossip are you?" she asked with a laugh.

"You know if I was nosy, our lives would be very different."

She shifted her weight until she was facing him. "And today's definitely the day to be thankful for that." She touched his face. "Now let's go eat. My stomach is empty."

Wylie made a face, taking her hand and helping her to her feet.

Mimi ran over to Vega as she and Wylie exited the bathroom. "Auntie Shell," she said. "Are you okay?"

"I am, little one," she said, ruffling Mimi's hair.

"Is the baby okay?"

"The baby," Vega said, kneeling and touching Mimi's chin. "Is absolutely fine." She looked over at Cho and smiled when he nodded at her confidence. She smiled up at Wylie and furrowed her brow when he looked less than pleased. "What's wrong, Jay?"

Lisbon, Jane and Kemper peeked in from the kitchen. "Dinner is ready!"

"Oh gosh," Wylie said. "I was going to help."

"I think we're all glad you didn't," Kemper quipped. Lisbon smirked. Vega hid hers behind her hand.

"Hey," Wylie said. "I can put the cranberry sauce in a bowl."

"Hey," Jane said. "Let's not take the jobs away from me, please."

"Hey now." Lisbon patted him on the shoulder. "You make great tea."

"I am not here for this patronization," Jane said.

"Your own medicine tastes kinda bitter, doesn't it?" Cho quipped.

"I wish Wayne and Grace could be here," Lisbon said suddenly.

They all understood why they couldn't be, but Vega most of all. This year, Thanksgiving fell on the anniversary of Van Pelt's sister's suicide, and Vega couldn't imagine not being at her father's grave on the anniversary of his death. "Is there anything I can do?" she asked.

"Yeah," Mimi piped up. "Don't puke on the food."

"You know what?" she asked, sticking her hands under Mimi's arms and lifting her up. "I've had just about enough of that attitude of yours, Missy."

Knowing she was playacting, Mimi giggled, kicking her feet, her giggles turning into a shriek when Vega dumped her on the couch and began to tickle. "Jay, come help, we got us a live one!"

It was Vega's turn to shriek. "Not me, Mimi!"

Shooting a grin at her ally, Mimi darted off toward the kitchen.

"Stop it, Wylie!" She tried to grab his hands. Fortunately, her scarring had limited where she was actually ticklish, but the remaining tickle spots were difficult to defend while she was lying on a couch. "God dammit!"

"She said a dirty word! She said a dirty word!" She could hear Mimi shouting from the kitchen.

"That's not a dirty word," came Kemper's voice.

"It's a bad word!"

"You do realize you're doing this in front of your boss."

Wylie and Vega both froze, looking over at Cho, who remained where he was in the chair, his eyebrows raised pointedly.

They both cleared their throats and rushed to help set the table.


	24. Chapter 24

**Merry Christmas for those of you that celebrate that! This update is a present for Roxanne, but obviously, everyone is equally free to enjoy it. Thank Roxanne though, for an update coming today because making this a present for her gave me motivation to finish it.**

* * *

"Come on, Michelle," Wylie said, picking up his pillow and playfully whacking her with it. "You cannot hit snooze for a fourth time. We have an appointment."

"I'm not _asleep_ ," she said, covering her eyes with her hand. "I just don't want to get up."

"It's fatigue. That's typical of a Week Tenner."

"Will you stop being a walking talking baby book?" Vega sat up, stretching. "I am talking to my husband, not an encyclopedia."

"Yes, but your husband," Wylie said, sinking down on the bed next to her, "happens to be quite knowledgeable about the likely source of your fatigue."

"Okay Doctor Spock." It was her turn to wield the pillow. "Scoot over so I can get up. We won't be late. You know?" She shrugged. "The doctor only suggested the weekly ultrasounds until I'm out of the first trimester, but I'm definitely going to miss seeing him every week."

"Speaking of your pronoun choice," Wylie said, "only about eight weeks until we can find out."

"Do you want to know?"

"Well, yeah," Wylie said, "so we have less arguing to do about names. My parents spent a solid month fighting over whether or not their girl name was going to be Elizabeth or Marguerite and then it was like heyyyyy, penis!" He trailed off awkwardly, throwing up jazz hands.

Vega rolled her eyes. "Okay but you know that everyone will be then bombarding us with either pink or blue, then it'll be dolls or cars, dresses or overalls."

"Well, we have a couple months to talk about it," he said. "But we only have about ten minutes to get into the car if we want to make the ultrasound."

"I'm going, I'm going!" Vega pulled her jeans off the hanger as Wylie went for the dresser to grab his car keys. It was only a couple seconds before he heard her voice again. "Uh...Jay?"

He turned around. She was facing the mirror, her head cocked, her jeans over her hips and her hands resting near her zipper. "What's wrong?"

"N...nothing. He could only see her in profile, but he could still tell that her brow was furrowed. She raised her arms over her head. "Am I showing?"

Wylie studied her. "I don't...I mean I see you every day but..." he shook his head, his shoulders lifting in a shrug. "I don't see any difference. Why?"

She turned to face him, her hands going back to her jeans. She tugged on them, trying to fasten the button. "I can still do it, but..." she tugged again, emphasizing that it was taking an effort.

"Well I do know those jeans," Wylie said, stepping closer to her. "I've undone that button quite a few times."

"Exactly." She tugged again. "I wore these to the seven week ultrasound. Didn't have a problem then. But now it's three weeks later and..." She bit her lower lip, grinning down at herself. "I think we are going visible, _mi niño_."

* * *

"Alright, so you have done this before," said the ultrasound technician. "So just lie here, relax, and we'll take a looksee. We should be able to get a nice heartbeat for you to listen to."

"Are you excited?" Vega asked, her hands folded over her main scar.

"Of course," Wylie said. "Jane and Lisbon get to see Mimi every day, we're restricted to a one way Skype call every week."

"There we go!" The technician said as the images popped up on the screen. "The baby is moving at this point, you just won't be able to feel it yet. It's now possible to bend at elbows and knees."

"Oh, Michelle," Wylie said. "That reminds me. I can touch my toes again."

"And soon I won't even be able to see mine," she quipped. "Oh look! Jay, look!"

The image on the screen was making small, jerking motions. Wylie pointed at the screen. "Me trying to navigate life." He and Vega chuckled. "Can you even believe it?" He said. "It's happening in there, but we're seeing it up here, and we can't even tell it's happening otherwise but _it is_." He shook his head. "It's pretty cool"

"Yeah," Vega agreed. "It's very cool." She shifted her weight, resting one of her hands at her side.

"Everything is looking good," the technician said. "I think we'll do these at eleven and twelve weeks, and then once you're out of the first trimester we can remove any extra precautions that have been on you since the bleeding. You haven't had any alarming symptoms since?"

"Nope," Vega said. "Everything has been perfect. What's your name again?"

"Gary."

"Everything has been perfect except her memory," Wylie joked.

"Shut up."

"But seriously," Vega told him. "It's been great."

"Good, good. Now what I'm going to do now is move this Doppler around and see if we can get you guys an audio on the heart. Sometimes it takes until twelve weeks to hear it really well, but this little one may be positioned well enough for it to happen today."

"Is that it?" Wylie looked underwhelmed.

"That's me drumming my fingers on the table, Wylie," Vega said, amused.

"Do you find it weird that she calls me by our last name?" He asked Gary.

His answer was a different kind of drumming sound, and a triumphant smile from the technician. "There you go."

Vega bit her lips, nodding. "Well damn." She grabbed Wylie's hand.

"It's fast." He looked at the technician. "But that's normal, right?"

"It's normal for them to be faster than an adult's," Gary said. "We're right in the middle of the normal range for beats per minute, it's sounding like. So very healthy."

"Hey." Wylie grinned down at Vega, raising his free hand for a high five. "Our baby has a heartbeat?"

She rolled her eyes, but granted his high five request. "Our baby has a heartbeat!"

* * *

 **Wanted to throw a twist on the more clichéd overemotional experience of the ultrasound and hearing the heartbeat. Obviously that's a huge emotional deal, especially after a scare like the Wylie's had, but I figured they would turn that emotion into a sort of "aw yeah, rock on, this is so cool" attitude, blame the ending of Copper Bullet if you wish. ;)**


	25. Chapter 25

**Realized as I was uploading this that this is chapter 25 - which makes it already as many chapters as If I Can Leave Off Burying The White. And we're not close to done yet! But now I've written fifty chapters of Wylie and Vega's life after the finale, and it's become very real to me, that this is what happened, that the ending of their story on the show isn't exactly the entire story. I hope it's the same for everyone else, too!**

 **Happy Wega Wednesday!**

* * *

"Cho just called us," Wylie said, "we've got a break in the immigration case. He needs us ASAP. Hopefully we can wrap it up before Christmas."

"Just let me throw on some pants," Vega said, rising off the couch and heading to the bedroom. Wylie grabbed his jacket off the hook. They both wanted to get this case closed as soon as possible. This topic always seemed to bring out the worst in everybody. Agent Don wasn't the only one to give his wife a hard time about it.

He threw their dishes into the dishwasher and washed his hands. Vega still hadn't come out of the bedroom, and he tossed the hand towel on the counter as he headed across the living room to investigate.

"Hey, what's taking you so..."

He stopped. She was standing in front of their closet, her head drooping, her chin resting against her chest. Her eyes were closed, and the pants she'd pulled from the closet were on the floor in front of her, as if she'd dropped them. She was still wearing the shorts.

"Hey," he said gently, crossing the room. "What's wrong?"

She looked up at him, her eyes dull, and when she spoke it was in a whisper. "I'm just so tired."

He pulled her close, feeling her slump against him, sighing. "I'll go in," he said. "I'll go in and tell Cho you can't make it."

"No." Her protests were weak, halfhearted. The old Michelle Vega, the one before her injury, would have pushed through this fatigue, gone in anyway and worked under capacity, possibly making mistakes. That was the old Michelle Vega, the one that strove to gain respect to the point of fault. The Michelle Vega of today knew her limitations. The Michelle Vega of today allowed herself to be imperfect.

"Come on, let's get you laid down." He guided her to their bed, pulling the covers back for her as she crawled onto it. "There we go. I'm going to go to work," he said, going over to the dresser and picking up her cell phone. "I'm setting this on the dresser," he said. "If you need anything at all just give me a call. Okay?"

"Yep," she said, giving him a small smile. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He kissed her forehead. "We can handle it. You rest."

* * *

What she hated the most about this fatigue was she actually wasn't able to sleep all that well, not during the day. Her body cried for rest, but her brain knew it was morning, time to get up, time to go to work. She used to pride herself on her infallible internal clock. Now she would willingly trade it for an hour's nap.

She ached, too. She hadn't been moving around enough and her scar tissue was protesting. The new shirt she'd worn to work on Friday had irritated her skin, especially over her scars. The red and purple lines that were a permanent part of her body were even more prominent these past few days. She'd fallen asleep the day before and was late taking her insulin – something she'd done every day since the shooting and something she'd have to do the rest of her life.

She was exhausted because her body, which had already been put through the ringer, which had spent more than its fair share of time fighting for survival, was doing something special. It was preparing, making itself a safe place for her and Wylie's baby to grow, to be sheltered until it was time to venture into the world. She hated feeling so useless, she hated not being able to sleep, but this wasn't something she could be truly frustrated about.

For years, she'd been constantly reminded, through pain and exhaustion and frustration, of the things she could no longer do, or could no longer do as well as before the shooting.

This was different. This symptom wasn't a reminder of what she couldn't do. This was a reminder of what she still could.


	26. Chapter 26

**Once again, sorry for the delay in updating. I'll continue to do the best I can. This chapter reveals why Wylie's has been less than happy about Vega and Cho's dynamic, as well as hints at something to come later in the fic.**

* * *

She was surprised to see Cho at the door. "Boss," she said. "I thought you were Wylie." She cocked her head. "Wylie did tell you that I was..."

"I'm not here to ask why you missed work," Cho said, holding a hand up to quiet her. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Wylie seemed concerned."

"I've been really tired," she admitted. "To the point where if I came to work, I know I would mess up. And I can't do that to you or the team."

"And we understand," Cho said. "There were several days...this would have been before you came back...that Lisbon wasn't able to come into work. You have to take care of yourself first. I remember hearing that Summer..." he trailed off, visibly paling. "Ah, that's getting off topic. But really, Michelle, take your time. No one would ever accuse you of slacking off or shirking the job."

Vega smiled. "Thanks, Cho. I do feel guilty, though. I know I have responsibilities..."

"And we'll think of plenty for you to do when you feel better," Cho said. "We need you at your best, and you'll have a better chance of being at your best if you take it easy when need be. We all do it sometimes. Hey," he said, his voice getting softer, "this team, we're a family. We've been through a lot together. I know you're thinking you'll let us down. But trust me. Okay?"

She tipped her head to the side, still smiling. "Thank you, Cho. That means...it means a lot," she said. "Really."

They were both distracted at the sound of a car as Wylie pulled up the driveway. He angled the car to the side, giving Cho room to back out, and when he exited the car, Vega was surprised at how forcefully he shut the door.

"Hey!" She said, smiling, wondering if he'd had a rough day. "How are you?"

"I'm..." he was frowning. "Boss. What are you doing here?"

"Just stopped by to see how Vega was doing," Cho said. "You'd said she wasn't feeling well and thought I'd check on her."

Wylie glared at Cho. "I think I can check up on my own wife."

Vega was startled at his tone. "Wylie!"

"Hey, Jason," Cho said, squaring his shoulders and raising his eyebrows. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, I wouldn't know if there was, but I'm going to _assume_ that since you've been here, it's been made all better by now."

He marched past Cho and Vega into the house, letting the screen door slam behind him. Vega looked back at Cho. "I'm sorry," she said, unsure of where to even begin to try and fix...whatever this was. "I have no idea...I mean, I don't know if...he might...I just..."

He held up his hand again. "Michelle. I'll see you tomorrow at work. Okay?"

"Yeah, Boss," she said, sighing, nodding, suddenly feeling tired again. "Okay."

As Cho turned to head back to his car, Vega stormed inside, letting not only the screen door, but the main door slam. " _Jason_!"

"You don't need to shout. I'm right here."

He was sitting at the table, his jaw clenched, his hands folded. He stared straight ahead.

"What the Hell was that?" she asked. "You know I'm not feeling well, Cho showed up to check on me, and you act like he ran his father through with a lightsaber or something."

"Look, whatever makes you happy, of course," he said, his mouth closed, his lower jaw moving from one side to the other.

"Ugh, _me cago en diez_ ," Vega groaned, throwing her hands up and resting them on the sides of her head. "I know you've been acting weird around me lately, and I've never been able to put my finger on it, but today you blew up at Cho and what in the world could you possibly have against him? Don't you remember just how much of a comfort he's been to us these past-"

" _You_."

"What?"

"A comfort he's been to _you_."

"You know," Vega said, "I would really, _really_ like it if you stopped sneering when you say that word."

"Sorry."

His apology still came out more forceful than she liked. "What is wrong with you?" She asked. "Seriously. It's not like I'm sleeping with the guy."

"I wasn't thinking that," Wylie said. "But thanks for the image."

"Wylie, _te prometo que si no me dices lo que está haciendo enojar ahora mismo, me aseguraré de que la próxima vez que esta puerta se cierra, sus oídos será sonar a través del rapto_."

She folded her arms and he sighed, drumming his fingers on the table. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet. "I'm not angry at either of you. I just don't like myself very much."

It was the last thing Vega was expecting and she cocked her head. "Eh?"

"I just..." Wylie looked at the floor. "I just wish you'd come to me."

"You're acting like I'm keeping things from you."

"No," Wylie said. "I just...you feel strange at work and you go to Cho. You're exhausted at home and I come home and you are talking to him, looking the happiest you've been all day. It's like his very presence eases your mind, and while..." he stopped, swallowed, and spoke again, his voice threatening o crack, "and while I love you so much I don't want to care who makes you happy, I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you and I'm supposed to be that guy...the guy who makes you feel better just by being there...and I hate myself for not being enough."

Two minutes ago she'd never been angrier at him in her life, and now Vega was wanting drop down next to him, pull him against her, and assure him, _promise_ him that he was that guy, tell him again that he was the single greatest thing that had ever happened to her, remind him of the evening they'd spent gaming at work, the night they danced for the first time, the afternoon they spent kissing in the courtyard of the FWTC, and tell him that the things she felt for him on those days had morphed into something a million times greater.

But she knew that right now, that wouldn't help. Not now. Not without an explanation first.

"Hey," she said, moving around the table, pushing it over so she had room to ease into his lap, shifting her legs off to the side and putting her hands on his face. He looked up at her, and she believed him when he said he wasn't angry at her. His eyes weren't bitter, or even jealous. They were just sad.

And she was angry at him, angry at him for not telling her how he was feeling, for embarassing them both, for refusing to communicate when they'd once spent spent months living apart, where communication was what held them together. She knew he owed her an apology. But she also owed him an explanation.

"There have been three times in my life," she began, speaking slowly, her voice slightly shaky, "when I have been..." she shook her head. "... _so_ scared. One of those times, when my father was diagnosed, I knew what was coming. I knew what I feared would be realized. I had...precious little time to prepare. But I had a heads up."

She stopped to take a deep breath. "The other two times, things happened suddenly. Everything was fine one moment, and the next, my whole life was changing. There was pain, and there was blinding fear. And both those times, Cho was there. And he told me I would be okay. And I was. My head tells me that if Cho says I'll make it, then I will. And he's my mentor. I go to him when I need reassurance because he has that way of calming me down. Just like how you went to Lisbon when you were grieving for me?" She said it like a question to bring him into the conversation. He gave a small nod. He was listening, trying to understand.

He'd gone back to staring straight ahead, but she used her hands again, getting him to look at her. "And Jay...when I talk to Cho, and he comforts me...I just...I feel that...that same adrenaline rush I got when you came back into my life, when we got married, when I came back to the FBI. It reminds me of my second chance, and how lucky I am. And I know I can make it through this, and I know I _want_ to, because you're here, handling it with me. I may mention aspects of the journey to Cho. I'm _on_ the journey with you, and I wouldn't have it any other way." She cocked her head to look into his eyes. "Because I love you like I cannot believe. And I don't want you to ever think that you're not enough for me because you are _everything_."

Wylie was unable to speak for several moments, and when he did manage to form words, they betrayed the intense emotions he was feelings. "I'm sorry," he croaked. "I love you _so_ much." He leaned forward, resting his head in the crook of her neck, and she just stayed still, an arm curled around his head, holding him against her as he held her in his lap.


	27. Chapter 27

"That was pretty good," Vega said as the lights came back on.

"Better than the prequel trilogy," Wylie agreed. "Didn't you love Finn's number being 2187?"

Vega frowned. "I thought it was 2817?"

"No!" Wylie said. "It was 2187, which was…"

"The cell they held Leia in in A New Hope," Vega said. "I like these movies too, Jay. I knew more than you at the last Geeks Who Drink." She pulled her keys out of her purse as they headed out of the theater, Wylie dropping the empty popcorn buckets into the garbage.

"Hey!" Called a middle aged woman to Vega, holding up her own popcorn container, "thanks for that butter trick!"

"Butter trick?" Wylie asked as Vega grinned and waved at the woman.

"I told her about how she can stick a straw into the bucket and then turn on the butter pump into the straw to get butter to the popcorn near the bottom."

"Ah." Wylie nodded. "So real talk though, Rey is totally a Skywalker. I don't know what Cho was going on about when he was mentioning Rey Kenobi."

"Seriously," Vega agreed, "He's all 'Obi-Wan could have a grandchild!' Okay Boss, then where was Obi-Wan's child? A little necessary for a grandchild."

"Exactly! That's about as crazy as the fact we're supposed to believe Rey would do all that stuff with the Force."

"You thought that was unrealistic?" Vega cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. I mean, Ben has been trained by both Snoke and Luke, and Rey could pull the lightsaber from him? And the Jedi Mind Trick?"

Vega folded her arms. "Funny people will complain about that," she gestured with her head to a couple of teenagers behind them discussing the same thing, "but when the _guys_ do it, it's completely acceptable."

"Hey," Wylie said, "Luke couldn't do the Mind Trick until the third movie, which took place four years after he first learned about the Force."

"But what about Anakin being able to navigate the pod race?"

"In my defense," Wylie said, "I spent considerable amount of time on complaining about that when the movie came out."

"That was 1999," Vega said. "You were nine years old."

"Like you've never lied about your age."

"Okay, fair point." Vega shrugged. She looked at him. "Okay on three, is BB-8 a boy or a girl? One, two, three."

"Girl," they said in unison. Wylie grinned.

Vega pushed open the door to the theater. "My main complaint was how Han Solo had to die. I feel like his character was mistreated, really. The guy has always been such a fighter, always so tough, a crazy space soundrel who should have gotten a chance to fight back. He didn't deserve to go out like that."

"No one does," Wylie said quietly. Vega gave him a solemn smile and slipped her hand into his.

"Wait wait!" Wylie tugged on her hand, suddenly energetic again. We gotta stand over here by the sign and take a picture."

"Instagram or it didn't happen," Vega said smiling as Wylie held out his phone. "Should I throw up a peace sign?" she joked.

"I'll duck face, you look unamused. That'll be funny."

"That will be completely in character for both of us."

"Oh wait," Wylie said, "no, let's take a video." He pressed the camcorder button his screen. "We just saw The Force Awaaaaaakens!"

He looked at Vega, who looked startled. "You didn't tell me I'd have lines!"

"Did you like it?"

"YES!" Vega shouted, jumping up and down, bumping into Wylie. "It was so good!"

"Baby's first movie! Yay Star Wars!" Wylie said, hugging her before stopping the video. "You'd better like this when I post it."

"Peer pressure!" She teased, linking her arm in his as they headed back for their car.

"You want to hear something stupid?" Wylie asked as he unlocked the car.

"Always."

They slid into the seats in unison. "Well," Wylie said, fastening his seat belt, "when a couple weeks after we met we exchanged social media information, I was going back through all your pictures, and I was either thinking 'wow, that's impressive' or 'gosh, she's beautiful' on all of them, and...I was!" he protested when she rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I wanted to like all of them, but you know, people might find that weird, and I was too shy to tell you I liked you at first and I didn't want to come off as creepy or overzealous so I was like, scrolling back and forth and trying to figure what was an acceptable number of likes based on your current number of posts and then picking which photos were my favorite that I had to like and that I had to know you know I saw." He cocked his head, trying to interpret her raised eyebrows and smirk. "Are you finding that cute or creepy?"

"I think the fact we're already married and with all the stuff we've been through is what is making me think it's cute," she said playfully. "But you were probably wise to not tell me this five years ago."

Wylie grinned and Vega leaned over to kiss him, but she stopped before their lips met. "Wylie," she said, "the baby's kicking."

"What?" His eyes widened. "You're only at fourteen weeks."

Vega took his hand, placing it over her belly button. "Feel that?"

"That's...subtle."

"But it hasn't happened before." Vega's grin was broad. "Wylie, that's the baby!"

"But first pregnancies usually don't feel it for another month at least. And you're still hardly showing..."

"Well, either something's wrong, or this is a kick, so...nothing's wrong," she said quickly when Wylie managed to pale. "I promise. Nothing feels wrong. For once, I have no fears about anything."

His hand still on her stomach, and her hand over his, Wylie leaned across to kiss her. "Me either."

* * *

 **Considering what day it is, I just wanted to write a fluffy chapter. NOTE: I am on vacation for about a week starting day after tomorrow. So updates will not be until I get back. So enjoy the happy Wega.**


	28. Chapter 28

**I have not given up on this fic, apologies for going two plus months without updating, if anyone is still reading it. I'm finding difficulties. The more time that passes since the show ended, the less interested I am in any dynamic other than Wylie and Vega. It is strange to me, as I used to think about Lisbon every waking moment, I used to ship her and Jane, I used to adore Cho to the point of photoshopping his face over Jane's on the DVD art and tweeting it to Tim Kang (who loved it by the way). But the show numbed me to the love that I had for them and it hasn't come back. I haven't watched an episode since the series finale and I honestly doubt I ever will again, that's how much Nothing Gold Can Stay changed my feelings. And having not watched in so long, I find it hard to get the voices of the characters we know best right. Only Wylie and Vega do I have confidence in, but I have to include everyone in this fic. So I have to update when I feel so inspired. I know this chapter is short, but if anyone is still reading, I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Vega was feeling good.

Wylie could tell. They took separate cars to work because Cho had asked her to work late, something he knew she was up for, because there was a bounce in her step characteristic of his wife when she was happy. Her ponytail swung with the beat of her stride. It was difficult to do without being obvious since they were walking side by side, but Wylie couldn't stop looking at her.

Lisbon and Jane had beaten them to work – though only half of them had beaten them up. Lisbon was at her desk, printing off some files. Jane lay on the couch on his side, his face nestled into the pillow, not his casual, paying – attention – while – appearing – asleep pose. This time, Jane was _actually_ asleep.

"Good morning," Lisbon said, swiveling in her chair and greeting them with a smile.

"Morning!" Vega said cheerfully, dropping the binder in her arms down on her desk. "Any breaks?"

"Cho and Theo are downtown investigating a tip that came in this morning," Lisbon said. "They're hoping to pick up a witness."

"Good," Vega said. "Hopefully we can close this one soon. I don't like those agents we're collaborating with."

"None of us do, believe me," Lisbon said. "Madeline doesn't like them either and she's never met them."

"Ah, are Mommy and Daddy complaining about them when they get home?" Wylie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We don't use the words we use here at home," Lisbon said pointedly. Wylie smirked. "Oh by the way," Lisbon said, gesturing toward Wylie. He tensed, knowing what she was going to say next.

She said it with a big smile. "Happy birthday!"

Wylie forced a smile of his own. "Thanks. So what can we be doing, did Cho leave any orders?"

"They left in a hurry," Lisbon said. "Just a few minutes before you guys arrived."

Lisbon frowned then, and Wylie internally cringed as he turned to where Vega had been standing. He caught a glimpse of her heel as she turned the corner out of sight. "Is everything okay, Wylie?"

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Okay, well, I'm sure he'll be texting me some instructions momentarily, so I'm gonna grab some coffee so I don't pass out on the job like your husband here."

Lisbon glanced at Jane and dramatically rolled her eyes. "His life is so tough."

"Ha, yeah, okay be back."

Wylie found her in the break room, as he thought he would. She stood near the sink, her palms pressing down on the counter, her head to her chest. "Michelle."

She turned to face him, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry I suck."

"You do not suck."

"Anniversaries...birthdays..." she shook her head. "I should remember them."

"You know, I put my parents' anniversary in my phone, I honestly wouldn't..."

"You weren't there for that." She shook her head again. "I was there when we got married. And I should know when the love of my life's birthday was, that should be so important to me and it _is_ important to me I don't mean to say it isn't because you being born was _the greatest thing_ that could have happened to me but..." she cleared her throat, her voice cracking, "but it just doesn't stick in my head. I shouldn't have to put it into my phone. I should know it as well as I know my own name."

"Bonaventura, Vega, or Wylie?" he joked, immediately wishing he could take it back. She closed her eyes and sighed painfully. _Attaboy, Jason. Way to make her doubt that too._ "I'm sorry." He reached for her. "I was trying to make a joke but I didn't think. That was really crappy of me, I'm sorry."

" _I'm_ sorry."

"Please don't be. I don't want you to feel like this. Hey," he decided to go with a different angle. "You _honestly_ do not have to remember these dates. The only thing I don't want you to forget is that I love you. And that's every day." He opened his arms and smiled when she moved into them.


	29. Chapter 29

**I'm gonna try to update this one more frequently until it's done (yes I've said that before, shut up) but it's gonna be less case focused from here on in and just more focusing on Wylie and Vega, with the other characters appearing as necessary. I just don't have the heart to write the others most of the time, and it's either abandon the story, or finish it with less interwoven stuff than I had at the start of this fic and that was in If I Can Leave Off Burying The White. I don't want to abandon it, so this is what's going to happen from here on in. Don't worry – the other characters will still be around, and I still have some mini storylines for them, it just won't be terribly complex.**

* * *

 **This skips ahead about a month from the last chapter, so Vega is at twenty weeks.**

* * *

"We have a new ultrasound technician who will be with you today," the nurse said as Vega settled on the table. "She's very good at what she does. I think you will like her."

"Oh, good," Wylie said in relief, under his breath. "Someone new, thank God." The nurse gave him an odd look.

"Jason," Vega said sternly when they were alone. "Ted was not that bad."

"He hit on me. Both times. He knows I'm married. You're always laying _right there_."

"Like you don't flirt with girls who aren't me."

"I absolutely do _not_ ," Wylie said indignantly.

"Yeah, okay," Vega admitted. "You're a bad example."

"You _picked_ me as the example."

"I'm having your baby, cut me some slack."

He grinned down at her. Her spirits had been up a lot in the past few weeks. The caseloads had eased up a bit at work, leaving more time for them to spend evenings together. If anyone ended up working late, it was Lisbon and Jane, unable to leave the littlest things unfinished, so Wylie and Vega had been spending a lot of time with little Mimi. It was, as they both knew, impossible to spend significant time with the toddler and not be in a good mood. "She takes after me in that respect," Jane had said, moments before being smacked by his wife.

There was a knock at the door, and the technician came bounding into the room "Well, hello hello hello!" She said with a big smile. "You guys must be the Wylies. My name is Summer, and I'll be performing your ultrasound today."

"Nice to meet you," Vega said. "I'm Michelle, this is my husband, Wylie."

"Yes. We're married. Happily," Wylie said pointedly as he shook her hand. Vega nudged him.

"Let's not waste any time, huh?" Summer asked, beginning to position the equipment. "Lie back, dear. So what do you guys do for a living?"

"We actually both work for the FBI," Wylie said. "I've been there about eight years, and Michelle just had her sixth anniversary last November."

"Oh, that's exciting," Summer said. "I actually – oh gosh, this has to be ten years ago, now? Coming up on it, anyway, before I had my son, I used to be a confidential informant. Not for the FBI, though. For the CBI – California Bureau of Investigation. It doesn't exist anymore, I don't think."

"We actually know some people who used to work for the CBI," Wylie said. "They were part of the team that ultimately took out Red John."

"Okay, so here you can see your baby…what?" Summer straightened up, taking the sensor away from Vega's stomach. "Red John?"

"Yeah. Really creepy serial killer. He used to paint a red smiley face on…"

"No, no, no no no, I know," Summer said. "I mean…do you guys…do you know Kimball Cho?"

"Yes!" Wylie said, glancing at Vega, who was staring impatiently at the blank screen where the baby had been visible moments before. "Yes, he's actually, he's our boss."

"No way," Summer said, her jaw dropping.

"Were you a CI for him, then?" Vega asked, seeming slightly more interested now that there was a connection to her father figure.

"Yes, and…" Summer's cheeks pinked. "And his girlfriend, for a while."

"Really!" Wylie's eyes widened. "Wow. So…oh gosh, so your son…?"

"No," Summer said. "Not his. My first ex – husband's kid. But yeah, Kimball…he's great, isn't he?" She stared off toward an empty corner of the room, then cleared her throat. "Anyway, let's take a look at your little button, shall we?"

"Yes please," Vega said.

"Alright, well," Summer said, "looks like they're giving us a really good view here, oh yes, this one isn't shy. You can see the hand right there, and the face, oh, look at that little face."

Wylie slipped his hand into Vega's and smiled as Summer continued to give them a view of their baby.

"Look at the little feet, and there's the bottom…and what is that?" Summer asked coyly, pointing at the screen.

Wylie and Vega turned their heads and looked at each other before he timidly ventured the obvious. "A…penis?"

"Uh-huh," Summer said, smiling broadly. "You're having a boy!"

Wylie grinned down at his wife, bending to kiss her forehead. "A boy, Michelle," he said fondly. "I know we didn't care either way, but…just _knowing_. A boy."

"What are you looking at me like that for?" She asked with a smirk. "That was all your doing, darlin'."


	30. Chapter 30

**I'm not gonna launch into yet another apology about how long it's been since I've updated because I sound like a broken record. What I still AM going to do is thank all of you who are still reading, an extra gracious thank you to everyone who is reviewing (reviews on this fic are particularly special to me) and another thank you to those who have been telling me, here and on Tumblr, how much you're still enjoying this fic.**

 **I was going to wait until Wega Wednesday to update again, but then I figured hey, anyone still liking this story has waited long enough.**

* * *

"Do you think we should tell Cho?" Wylie asked.

Vega turned around in her chair. "Tell Cho about what?"

"You know." Wylie glanced around the bullpen as if terrified that Cho – who they knew was an hour away in a meeting – would overhear. His voice dropped into a stage whisper. "About Summer."

In all honesty, their workload had been so crazy the past two days that Vega had completely forgotten that their ultrasound technician had been an ex – girlfriend of Cho's. Or rather, she hadn't forgotten, but it wasn't at the forefront of her mind, especially while what Theo would call "balls deep in paperwork." Vega shrugged. "I don't know, I mean...Cho hasn't seen Summer in a long time, it might be cool for him to know that she was the person we saw."

"Yeah, but what if it makes it awkward?"

"I mean, what if he still has feelings for her?"

Vega frowned. "Jay, it had been years."

"I'd still be into you if it had been years."

"Okay one, in all honesty you do not know that," Vega said, "and second of all, this is Cho. He's never really been all that interested in that stuff."

"He's mentioned her a couple of times – and Lisbon has mentioned her more than a couple of times. She was really important to him." Wylie dropped his voice again. "Lisbon thinks he was in love with her."

"She told you that?" Wylie nodded, and Vega frowned. "When?"

"Well, that was a long time ago. It might have even been before you joined the team the first time. But she's definitely mentioned a Summer that Cho used to date fairly regularly, in passing. I think she was somewhat important to all of them." Cho shook his head. "You know, sometimes I think I've heard a lot about the Red John days. But that period was...it was years long. It was an era, when Jane was at the CBI. There's always going to be layers to it that we don't know and couldn't possibly ever understand."

Vega shrugged. "I mean, I don't disagree with you. But if it ever comes up, I don't think it'd be a problem to mention to Cho that our technician said she knew him." She put a hand on her stomach. "Junior here just started going crazy. I wonder if he's agreeing or disagreeing."

"You know," Wylie said, "people are going to be asking us if we know if the baby is a boy or a girl. We should probably talk about if we're going to tell them."

"I don't want to."

Wylie cocked his head. "You...don't want to...talk about it? Or you don't want to tell people?"

"I don't want to tell people. Because they'll start imposing all these expectations on him before he's even born. They'll get him onesies that say "ladies man." They'll only buy him trucks and dinosaurs. All the gifts will be blue. I mean I don't want to have a shower or anything but people are going to send gifts anyway and I don't want them all to be blue. Gender roles gave me so much trouble growing up and he's going to be subjected to them soon enough. He should not have to deal with that when he's still a fetus, for crying out loud."

Wylie nodded. "I agree. I mean, sure I carry a gun and stuff, but I've never been the tough guy that people expected me to be when I was growing up. I don't want people putting all those expectations on him when we don't know what he's like yet."

Vega rubbed her stomach lightly. "Well, he's already opinionated, that's for sure."

"You're gonna have a fun time once you really get big and he starts kicking you in the ribs."

"Oh I know," Vega said. "I'm enjoying this phase. Where we can tell I'm showing but he's not making me pee every ten minutes yet."

"You look super cute."

She grinned. "Okay now," she said playfully. "I gotta get back to work. And you should too."

Wylie shrugged. "We have a lot of time. We've made some good time this morning and no one will be back for hours."

"So you want to make out in the break room?"

Wylie blinked. "I mean, I was going more for the we – can – keep – talking – for – a – bit angle here, but if you _want_ to make out in the break room..."


	31. Chapter 31

"It's me, it's me, it's me!"

Wylie hunkered down, opening up his arms. "Wow! It's you! It's really you!"

Mimi attempted to twirl as she reached Wylie, but she tripped on her shoe lace and tumbled into his arms instead. "That was not good," she said with a frown as she looked up at him. "But," she added, perking up, "I will learn from my mistakes."

Vega laughed. "You're a smart cookie, Madeline."

"Can we _have_ cookies?" Mimi asked.

"Uncle Wylie and I don't have any cookies," Vega said. "And your mom doesn't like you eating the store – bought ones."

"Can we make cookies?"

"Well, aren't you the problem solver," Wylie said, shooting an amused grin at his wife. "Do we have things available to make cookies?"

"I think we do," she said with a smile, resting a hand just to the left of her belly button. It felt as if the baby had hiccups. She was pleased about that. She'd read that hiccups help strengthen the diaphragm, which would make it easier for him to breathe once he was born. "Why don't you go wash your hands and I'll clean off the table and then the three of us can make some cookies."

"Don't tell Mommy?" Mimi asked, a mischievous glint in her eye.

"I think this is okay to tell Mommy," Wylie said. "What do you think, Aunt Michelle?"

"I'm a little concerned about how often we tell her not to tell Lisbon about things that happen here," Vega said, lifting an eyebrow.

Wylie coughed, reaching out to tickle Mimi, who giggled and jumped backward. "Go wash up, sweetie." He straightened up when the girl ran off toward the bathroom, turning toward Vega. "Okay, now do we have chocolate chips? Because those make the best cookies."

Vega folded her arms, staring off after Mimi. "Do you think he will want to do these sorts of things?"

Wylie cocked his head. "Who?"

Vega blinked, cocking her own head the opposite way. "Our child."

"Do you think he will want to make cookies?"

Vega licked her upper lip. "My dad was very adamant that I learn to do boy things. You know, what he considered boy things. He liked that I was naturally interested in that stuff, and the few things I wasn't into, he encouraged me to at least try. I always liked that about him, you know, he didn't think that I belonged in the kitchen, he didn't think I had to wear dresses and only go to school for an MRS degree, but he was okay with the girly traits that I did have, like baking. But…" she hesitated. She always did when she felt she was going to say something that was critical of her father. He was her everything growing up. His death had nearly destroyed her. "I know that if he had had a son, he would have been ashamed if he liked those things. It's so acceptable for girls to like things that society thinks are for boys, but it's a completely different story when boys like things that are considered to be for girls." She ran her hand over her stomach. "I love our son, Jay, and I know that deep down I really just want a healthy baby, but…but seeing Mimi being allowed to love all sorts of things, it makes me wish we were having a daughter."

"Okay, but, Michelle," Wylie said, tracing a finger over her middle, "you know that both of us are going to be completely supportive in whatever he takes an interest in. And you know, we know what his anatomy is, but sometimes all that doesn't match up." He shrugged, "I know most people don't think along those lines when they're expecting, but, like, maybe you are carrying our daughter and she will just have to tell us that when she is ready."

Vega smiled. "I just hope he doesn't ever get made fun of for his interests. No matter what those interests are."

"I think no matter what," Wylie said, "baby will like making cookies. That's a great time for everybody, let's be honest."

Vega laughed.

* * *

Cho's door was open, so Vega lightly rapped on the wall. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Cho very rarely used his official office; he said he didn't like having walls between himself and the team. So when he called someone into his office, it almost always meant that he wanted to have a conversation that he didn't want anyone else in the building to overhear. That didn't automatically mean anything bad, but despite the relationship between the two of them, Vega felt slightly nervous standing in the doorway.

"Yes. Come on in, Michelle."

The use of her first name relaxed Vega. If this was something serious, or at least something work related, he would have called her Agent Wylie, or Agent Bonaventura. Vega entered the office, taking a seat in one of the chairs across from his desk when he motioned to it.

"I just wanted to ask you how your appointments have been going," Cho said in what was – for him – an easy, relaxed tone. "Things still going well?"

"Oh. Oh, yes," Vega said, nodding. "We have had a couple ultrasounds, everything looks good." She hesitated before speaking again, realizing that she'd almost used a pronoun and they were keeping that a secret. "Baby is in the upper quartile percentage wise, so that's good. And there's been a lot of hiccups."

"Hiccups," Cho said, and Vega realized at the concerned expression on his face that he thought that she'd meant complications. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"No, no, no," she said, "hiccups the…the diaphragm…spasm…thing…"

"Oh." A corner of Cho's mouth turned up. "Those are the preferable kind."

"Yes." Vega laughed. She hesitated. She and Wylie still disagreed on whether or not to bring this up. She decided to go for it. It wasn't like Wylie could ever learn exactly what they talked about in here. She could say it came up more specifically. "You know, our new ultrasound technician said she knows you from back in California."

"Really?" Cho cocked his head. "What's her name?"

"Summer. I don't know her last name."

She couldn't read the expression that came over Cho's face, but he cleared it quickly. "Summer. Wow. I had no idea she was in Texas. Or doing that type of work." A small smile came over his face. "Good for her." He looked concerned again. "What did she tell you?"

Vega decided that she should probably exclude some details. "She said she was your CI when you were with the CBI."

Cho nodded. "She was. She gave me more than a few of these gray hairs, but she got the job done, that's for sure."

"I'm sure it would take a lot to give you gray hairs."

"Says the person who gave me more than anyone else combined."

"I would have apologized," Vega said, "but, you know, I was kinda preoccupied with staying alive."

As she left Cho's office a few minutes later, Vega realized that was one of the first times she'd ever joked about it with someone other than her husband.

* * *

 **I've said this before, but I actually AM going to be updating this more regularly until it's finished. I thank everyone still reading and reviewing.**


	32. Chapter 32

Wylie locked the front door and turned, his eyes landing on the cell phone exactly where he'd left it that morning. Well, at least it hadn't been lost. He checked it and saw nothing but a missed call from Vega, but no voicemail.

He could hear the shower running. Vega had had a doctor's appointment that day, and he was excited to hear about how it went. He was tempted to go into the bathroom and greet her, but without having had his phone all day, he wanted to catch up on the news. Settling down on the couch, he booted up his iPad and opened his news app. He was on the third article when the shower turned off, and it was only a few more pages of reading when his wife appeared. Wylie looked up and smiled at her. "Hey."

"Hey." She looked tired. Wylie felt a pang of sympathy. He knew she'd been having trouble sleeping. Vega got closer, and the sympathy pang turned to one of concern. She didn't just look tired. She looked upset. "Michelle," he said, standing up and dropping the iPad on the couch. "What's the matter?"

His mind was racing. If there was something seriously wrong with her or the baby, she would have called him at work. Or the doctor's office would have called him. "Michelle?"

She sighed, throwing her hands up. "I can't work."

"What?"

"The doctor says I shouldn't go to work until after the baby is born."

"Why?"

She sighed again. "Because I have a million little things wrong with me and it all adding up would put me at risk these last couple months."

"Are they putting you on bed rest?"

"No. So there's that, I guess."

Wylie tried to hug her, but she backed up. "I can't do anything. I can't even do my damn job and grow a kid at the same time. I'm useless."

"Michelle," Wylie said. "No. You can't keep doing this to yourself."

He thought, with the way her eyes flashed, that he was going to get a volatile response. But she simply lowered her eyes and let out a quiet breath. "I'm losing it again."

Wylie lifted a hand, resting it against her cheek. Vega looked up at him. "I just want to be normal again. And I never will be."

She had told him a few months back that carrying their son was helping her learn to love what her body was still capable of. But Wylie knew better than to bring that up now. Because now, it was the pregnancy that was taking away the things she'd been doing even before the shooting. Wylie took in a frustrated breath, dropping his hand and turning away. "Michelle, I know I can't even pretend to know the challenges you're facing. But I don't know what to say."

"I want you to say exactly what I need to hear," she said, "but I don't know what that is and I do know that it's unreasonable to ask you to read my mind when I can't even do it. But I still wish you could."

Wylie dropped back down on the couch. "I know. And I wish I could too."

She pushed the iPad out of the way and eased onto the couch next to him. "I'm sorry that loving me is so hard."

Wylie reached out and wrapped his hand around one of hers. "Loving you is the best thing I have ever done."

"Stop. I'm frustrating."

"Yeah," Wylie admitted. "But there's _I'm purposefully trying to be a bitch_ frustrating and _I'm going through a lot_ frustrating." Leaning over, he kissed her temple. "I can be difficult too."

Vega scoffed.

Wylie stayed quiet, lightly squeezing her hand. He still didn't know what to say. He didn't blame her for being so frustrated – and this was probably worse than in most situations because they worked at the same place. He would be going in every day and she would be home, knowing that he was doing the work that she wanted to be doing, too. Finally, he tapped his knee and then shifted, angling to face her. "I love you. I so wish I could make you feel better."

She leaned back against the couch. "Thanks."

He kissed her temple again, and then her cheek. "I'm sorry I can't do more."

"Me too," Vega said. "Because all day I've been wanting to have sex and now that's on the list of don'ts from the doc."

Wylie gave a little laugh. "Well hey. Just another eight weeks until he's here, and then another…what? Six?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You're really not helping here."

She started giggling, and Wylie smirked. "Right, sorry." She cleared her throat. "So how was work?"

"We don't have to talk about that."

"No. I know. But…" she shrugged. "I think I want to. If I don't know what's going on, I'll feel even more disconnected. And that's just going to make me feel worse."

"Okay." Wylie thought back. "So Cho came in a bit late today, and Jane had taken apart one of those greeting cards that played music and put the player part in the hinge of his door, so as long as the door was open, whimsical music was playing. And he couldn't figure it out until…"


End file.
